AirBnB is one of the most valuable startups in the world and has managed to disrupt the global hospitality market in its entirety. The service, allows users to rent out their spare rooms within their homes or even their entire homes to tourists. The service has now launched Trips, with the view of making travel experiences personalised.
With trips, users will for a price have access to locals people who will then share their knowledge, experience, work or social life. Think of the service as a tour guide sort of service. Trips launched in 12 cities worldwide including Nairobi, Cape Town, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Detroit, Havana, London, Paris, Florence, Tokyo and Seoul.
The initial launch of Trips includes three key areas of Experiences, Places and Homes, with Flights and Services to be added in the future. Experiences will include activities designed and led by local experts. For instance, if one is visiting Lamu they may get immersed into donkey riding or even weaving. Places will tap into the experience of hosts, neighbours and even influencers who will serve as guidebooks to visitors while Home will seek to make travel experiences for each individual easier.
Why Nairobi? For a variety of reasons including the fact that Nairobi is at the very epicentre of technology in Africa. AirBnB which bills itself as a technology company would likely want to take advantage of this aspect. The growing prominence of the city with business travellers could also be another reason for why Nairobi was chosen among the 12 cities worldwide. AirBnB says trips has been in the works for the last four years before its eventual launch.
