Airbnb, the go-to for many travelers for short-term rentals in cities around the world, may be shifting its expansion plans toward property management as well, with the purchase of one company in the field and plans to invest in another.
It’s a shift for Airbnb, which has been selling ‘Experiences’ as well as rentals for the past couple of years, but with limited success: The offerings are often pricey and unique, but don’t include the kind of basic visitor experiences that many travelers look for. It has also often hinted it might go into flight sales and more, but interest in that appears to have cooled.
Airbnb bought Luckey Homesd, a French property management company in December, and is in talks to invest about $75 million in U.S. based Lyric hospitality. Both companies manage apartment buildings and complexes. Lyric, which operates in a dozen U.S. cities rents units on a short-term basis, listing them on Airbnb and competitors such as HomeAway.
Dennis Schaal of travel news analyst Skift suggests that the move into management of relatively up-scale apartments could also make Airbnb a more attractive alternative for business travelers.
Graphic above hints at the continuing spread of Airbnb, in this case in London
