Airbnb has clearly moved beyond its couch-surfing and apartment sharing roots in many ways, but its newest moves may be the boldest and riskiest they’ve taken: booking more standard accommodations such as hotels and bed&breakfasts, and creating a loyalty program.
CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky announced the moves last week; soon site visitors will be able to choose not only shared rooms, private rooms and entire apartments but also categories for hotels, b&bs, ‘uniques’ and two tiers for luxury accommodations that he hopes will let the company tap into a market with more money and less taste for adventure.
There will also be a Superguest category, matching the current Superhost listing. Superguests will get benefits such as discounts, airport pickups, flight upgrades and lounge access. That program is in pilot status, with no word on how to qualify.
So, will these changes, especially acting as a booker for standard hotels, add to the company’s value and user base, or do they threaten existing loyalties? And will other booking companies, which have viewed Airbnb as a niche now see it as more a direct competitor? Remains to be seen, but the changes are big enough to make the assumption that 2018, like 2017, will not be the year the company goes public with an IPO.
