Airbnb adds car rentals, grocery delivery and more hotels to its app

In short: Airbnb is turning its app from mainly home rentals into a bigger travel service, with car rentals, grocery delivery, more hotels, and new AI tools to help people plan.

What happened

Airbnb says it is expanding beyond home sharing and into more parts of a trip. The company is adding services like car rentals, grocery delivery, airport pickups, and luggage storage, plus more ticketed activities and “Experiences.”

Car rentals are set to appear inside the Airbnb app this summer, with cars shown near where you are staying. In the US, Airbnb has also added grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 cities. In some places, groceries can arrive before you do, so a host can stock the rental.

Airbnb is also increasing its focus on hotels, especially independent and boutique hotels, in around 20 major destinations including New York, London, Singapore, Paris, Madrid and Rome. The company says it will curate “hotels that feel like Airbnb,” offer a price match if the same hotel is cheaper elsewhere, and give some guests credit toward a future Airbnb stay.

Alongside these additions, Airbnb is updating the app with more AI features. AI, which is software that finds patterns in large amounts of information, will be used to summarize reviews and help compare listings or hotels, like a quick side by side shopping list.

Why it matters

For travelers, Airbnb is trying to become a single place to handle more of a trip, not just the place you sleep. This could save time, but it also means Airbnb will look more like traditional travel booking sites, which may change what people expect from the service.

Source: NYTimes