Airbnb experience: the trends of extra experiences offered by short-term rental owners

Traveling is not just getting to know different and distant places but living an experience capable of leaving a more vivid knowledge precisely because it is experienced. This is the theme at the heart of Airbnb experience, the formula devised by the short-term rental platform that allows travelers to benefit from many activities organized by the people of the holiday destination.

The possibility of living real and unique experiences tends to involve the owners of short-term rental houses and makes tourists feel like local citizens in all respects.

Airbnb experience was born in January 2017 and had such a rapid and important success that it became one of the main attractions connected to short-term rentals managed by Airbnb.

But be careful: not all tourist attraction proposals can become an Airbnb experience.

For example, large tours, with more than 15 people, are not considered experiences as well as any kind of services guests can find on their own.

Airbnb experience: discovering the most exclusive and local refinements.

What are the active Airbnb experiences around the world?

Browsing the Airbnb platform you can count over 3000 active experiences in more than 40 cities in 26 countries and 5 continents.

Just search online to discover the many activities organized for Airbnb travelers in some of the most beautiful and famous cities in the world, from Paris to Rome via New York, London and Tokyo.

A different, alternative tourist experience that allows travelers to immerse themselves completely in the reality of the place they are visiting.

The experiences also offer the possibility of getting to know exclusive places, local traditions, restaurants and meeting places far from the tourist flows.

In short, travel experiences that give tourists the thrill of truly feeling like citizens of that place, eating and drinking in typical places and living in the "local way" style.

The data provided by Airbnb indicate that the most popular experiences that tourists choose to experience are Food & Drink, followed by those related to art, sport and lifestyle.

Furthermore, statistics confirm that millennials are the main users of this new type of holiday.

The unmistakable sign is how the new generations approach tourism with a very creative spirit, which favors real experiences over pre-packaged holiday packages for sale online and in agencies.

Airbnb Experience Italy

Our country is in the top places for the number of tourists who choose to live an Airbnb experience.

The cultural, food and wine and artistic variety in fact favors the possibility of finding many possibilities, even very different from each other.

Art itineraries, fashion, sport, tours of Italy's natural beauties, historical and religious monuments, cuisine and crafts: there are many topics that the Italian Airbnb experience can address.

Italy, emblematic fact, is the only country in the world to have two destinations (Rome and Florence) in the Top Ten of travellers' favorite markets for this type of experience. Gastronomic activities are the most booked in the world on the AirBnB platform.

5 Airbnb Experience Italy trends 2019/2020

1. Ashtanga yoga for everyone!

This experience is proving very successful especially in Milan, a frenetic city in which empathizing means discovering a way to switch off.

Ashtanga is a dynamic yoga, which allows the participants to move a lot to relax on the finish in the posture of savasana.

Even if it's active, it's a yoga suitable for everyone because you just need to listen to your body by relying on your limits.

2. Private shooting with a pro

This is an experience for those who want to go home with beautiful and professional photos of themselves and to post on social media.

Discovering the most enchanting and instagrammable places in the city, those in the heart of the Host who accompanies you.

This Airbnb experience is recommended for those who travel alone or are looking for fantastic couple photos out of the ordinary.

3. Learned and homemade pasta, tiramisu, pizza and other local and secret recipes

These are not cooking classes, but real family experiences where the Host will reveal the secrets of his recipes, the food and wine tradition of the dish and the memories that preparing them arouses.

Obviously, the final tasting is guaranteed!

4. Local food tours

Almost never, the places where tourists stop to sip a typical drink or to taste a delicacy of local street food are those frequented by those who live in that city.

A food tour of an Airbnb experience will be a real journey into authentic flavours, among local people and their stories.

5. Cities at sunset by bicycle

To find the most beautiful viewpoints of a place, you need to know that place well!

That's why participating in private cycling sessions will allow you to discover the most fascinating places in a city even if you stop for a few days.

The Airbnb experiences that a host can offer are truly many and vary according to the knowledge, imagination and skills of the owner.

More examples? The creation of a jewel with a local craftsman, a visit to small cellars far from the tourist circuits, a tailor-made shopping tour.

An Airbnb experience is an opportunity for hosts to earn more

Airbnb experiences are also additional earning opportunities for hosts who rent out their apartment or shared room for a short time.

This new trend makes it possible to "broaden" the tourist offer by sharing "experiences" and, therefore, further develop one's customer portfolio.

Hosts, in fact, in addition to their property, also advertise local excellence to make the holiday even more captivating and provide tourists with a 360-degree interactive experience of the place they are visiting.

The rules of the Airbnb experience

Airbnb experiences aren't limited to platform hosts.

You don't have to be the owner of a short-term rental house to be able to offer an experience.

Experiences, as conceived, are an opportunity for anyone to share hobbies, skills and competences with the world.

Even for guests the rule is the same: you don't necessarily have to stay in a house on Airbnb to be able to book an experience.

Almost all Airbnb experiences have an average duration of 3-4 hours and vary according to the methods of use, the various skill levels (think of panoramic climbs and trekking routes for example) and interests.

All experiences are verified by Airbnb to ensure they meet the platform's quality standards.

Hosts can include entry fees and equipment rental costs in the total price of the Airbnb experience, but this is a personal choice, as long as this aspect is explicitly specified in the announcement of the experience.

Anyone offering experiences on Airbnb must also demonstrate high levels of expertise and the ability to connect emotionally with guests.

The experience must also offer travelers access to exclusive places that they would otherwise be unlikely to reach on their own.

All experiences submitted to Airbnb, as mentioned, are thoroughly vetted to ensure they meet the following three quality standards: Expertise, Exclusive Access, and Connected.

So, dear Italian hosts, come forward, if you have brilliant ideas to offer to guests from all over the world, Airbnb is the right platform on which to express your creativity!

Editor's note: CleanBnB is not affiliated with Airbnb or Booking, nor is it a competitor, but uses these and other platforms to enhance the properties managed for short-term rentals and optimize their income.