Arival the global research authority for tours, activities, and attractions yesterday released their latest industry report titled Inside Airbnb Experiences.
The 31-page report compiled by Arival chief Douglas Quinby and researcher Anne Falling provides an ‘exclusive, in-depth analysis of Airbnb’s Experiences business.’
In anticipation of an Airbnb public offering in early 2020, Arival undertook a comprehensive study of Airbnb Experiences listings at the end of 2019 to attempt to understand the structure and size of the business, the scale, and dynamics of product listings.
With the company’s IPO now back on track and expected in December 2020, this report provides insight into Airbnb’s Experiences business.
Although this analysis is based on data captured one year ago, this data and analysis delivers relevant and actionable insights for the tour, activity and attractions industry.
Airbnb is about to go public, yet even with an IPO in the offing, actual details about Airbnb Experiences are still scant.
‘The Airbnb S-1 filing mentions Experiences 252 times. Except for some thin, flowery descriptions of the product, the document states nothing about the business, except this: “Substantially all of the bookings on our platform to date have come from nights.” All of the metrics that matter, such as bookings, revenue and profit, blend with the core homes business.
So where does that leave Airbnb Experiences and its future on tours, activities, and attractions? Arival asks.
According to Arival, Airbnb Experiences is ‘struggling to find its footing against the backdrop of the company’s wildly successful accommodation business.
In the report, with booking volume not being disclosed by Airbnb, Arival uses review counts, ‘as a general proxy for bookings.’
Select findings from the report include:
- Airbnb has nearly 41,000 active Experiences listings across 93 countries and more than 2000 cities and destinations.
- Less than 1 in 3 Experiences listing account for 96% of all reviews.
- Nearly 1 in 3 listings have no reviews at all.
- Fewer than 1% of all listings have 1,000 or more reviews, and many of those Experiences appear to be conventional sightseeing tours run by established tour operators.
- Experiences with more than 50 reviews have an average price per person of $54 vs. a $70 average for all listings.
The 31 page Inside Airbnb Experiences report does not include data on online experiences nor does it include listing activity in 2020. Arival’s research is based on all Experiences listings through 4Q 2019.
About Inside Airbnb Experiences
This new report from Arival provides the only in-depth analysis of Airbnb’s business for the tours, activities, and attractions sector. Inside Airbnb Experiences is intended for the travel industry, Airbnb watchers, industry analysts, organizations seeking competitive insights on Airbnb’s business, and tour and activity companies who want insights into Airbnb’s Experiences’ division.
This report provides a data-driven analysis covering:
● The size and structure of Airbnb Experiences
● Key trends by region and Experience category
● The structure of the Experience host community
● What drives the Experiences business
● Key weaknesses and challenges facing the business
● Key dynamics of successful Experience listings
Arival also captured more than 40 data points on each listing, including:
• Experience name and assigned categories and sub-categories
• Review count and score
• Price
• Experience duration
• Total capacity
• Age requirements
• Location
• Product features such as inclusions such as food, drink and
transportation.
“Airbnb Experiences is still just a fascinating and uncertain side note for the IPO that’s had far more impact on the tours and activities industry than it has on Airbnb’s own business.
Building an online marketplace for tours and activities poses very different complexities from building a marketplace for accommodation, and the lack of more conventional tourism offerings may be limiting Airbnb’s ability to develop the needed density of supply and demand for Experiences.”
Douglas Quinby, CEO, Arival