Travellers, take note: Airbnb now offers vacation homes and luxury stays

Community-driven online hospitality platform Airbnb has announced its foray into new tiers aimed at high-end customers, that include properties like vacation homes and luxury spots. Called Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb, the new tiers will recognise hosts who go above and beyond to provide outstanding hospitality.

Starting with 2,000 homes in 13 cities, Airbnb Plus is intended for guests looking for beautiful homes, exceptional hosts and added peace of mind. “Ten years ago, we never dreamed of what Airbnb could become. We want to go further by supporting and expanding our community so that in 10 years’ time, more than 1 billion people per year experience the benefits of travel on Airbnb,” said Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-Founder, CEO and Head of Community.

Starting from this spring, Beyond by Airbnb will offer custom designed trips to the world’s finest homes, custom experiences and world-class hospitality. Airbnb today is one of the world’s largest accommodation platforms with 4.5 million places to stay in 81,000 cities.

Over the last 10 years, Airbnb hosts earned more than $41 billion and guests have checked into an Airbnb more than 300 million times. In addition to the existing Entire Home, Private Room and Shared Space facilities, Airbnb now offers four new property types — Vacation Home, Unique, B&B and Boutiques.

“This will give greater choice of accommodation to guests, provide greater transparency over the types of accommodation available, and help hosts showcase what’s unique about them to match with guests’ preferences,” the company said.

Later this year, Airbnb will also recognise its best guests with a new guest membership programme offering benefits across the entire trip. Superguest will launch initially to 10,000 guests as a trial this summer, before being rolled out to Airbnb’s wider guest community before the end of the year.

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