BANGKOK, 1 July 2019: Eleven years ago, Airbnb founders Brian and Joe inflated three airbeds in the living room of their San Francisco apartment and the company was born.
From airbeds, Airbnb expanded to spare rooms and then to entire homes, to Airbnb Plus and even to boutique hotels. Today Airbnb is bringing the same innovative approach to luxury travel by introducing Airbnb Luxe — a new luxury experience that makes personal and bespoke travel more accessible to everyone.
Airbnb Luxe provides access to unique and spectacular properties with dedicated trip designers to arrange bespoke experiences and services to make every stay truly magical. With homes that are destinations in themselves, travellers can stay at incredible places, including award-winning homes in New Zealand and South Africa, castles in France, breathtaking historic villas in Tuscany and modern luxury villas in Thailand’s hottest resort destinations.
Airbnb Luxe is built on Airbnb gained from its acquisition of Luxury Retreats in 2017.
This new tier launches with more than 2,000 handpicked homes around the world, each one passing strict evaluation across 300+ criteria to meet standards in both design and function. This includes elevated design standards on a variety of elements, from premium materials and finishes and rare and unique features, to spaces that accommodate groups, highly functional design, chef-grade appliances and the proper amount of bathrooms corresponding to each bedroom.
Each Airbnb Luxe booking provides access to a dedicated, highly trained trip designer who will ensure the stay is tailored to the traveller’s unique needs every step of the way. After booking a property, the trip designer can help ensure effortless check-in, coordinating local bespoke experiences and activities, and arranging a wide range of services from childcare to private chefs to in-house massage therapists – or, for the dedicated, personal training sessions in your own private gym.
“Today’s luxury traveller is craving more than just high-end accommodations; they seek transformation and experiences that leave them feeling more connected to each other and to their destination,” said, Airbnb Co-Founder, CEO and head of community Brian Chesky. “With Airbnb Luxe we are applying the same approach we’ve used since we launched Airbnb more than 11 years ago — creating local, authentic and magical travel moments now in amazing places to stay — to reimagine the way people think and experience luxury travel.”
The launch of Airbnb Luxe also helps meet increasing demand from Airbnb guests for luxury properties and experiences. In 2018, the number of Airbnb bookings for listings worth at least USD1,000 per night increased by more than 60%.
The increased interest in luxury travel on Airbnb is consistent with broader trends: analysts believe the luxury travel market is worth more than USD200 billion and poised to grow in the years ahead.
Luxe homes options come from a much larger inventory from another business unit – Luxury Retreats – that Airbnb has owned since 2017.
