Latest news with #AirbnbExperiences
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Time of India
Travel Tips: How to avoid tourist traps (and what to do instead)
Because you didn't fly across the world to eat at a chain restaurant next to a guy from your hometown. So, you've landed in a new city, guidebook in hand, camera ready, and a list of 'must-see' attractions bookmarked on your phone. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now But wait—why does everything feel a little too... staged? Why does that 'authentic' market feel like a themed set from a reality show? Welcome, friend. You've just walked into a tourist trap. Don't worry—we've all been there. It's part of the travel learning curve. But if you're the kind of person who craves real connection, real food, and real experiences, here's how to dodge the touristy nonsense and actually enjoy where you are. If you can google it in 3 seconds, everyone else already has Those 'Top 10 Things to Do' lists? Great place not to start. Sure, some big-ticket places are worth the hype (hello, Eiffel Tower). But if you only follow those lists, you'll end up in lines, overpaying for average experiences, and bumping into people who are also doing the exact same thing. What to do instead: Dig deeper. Look for personal travel blogs, niche Instagram accounts, or Reddit threads from locals. Better yet, talk to people who've been there. Ask: 'What's something people miss when they come here?' That's where the gold is. Skip the restaurant with the English menu and a guy waving you in If someone's trying too hard to get you inside their restaurant—flashing a laminated menu in eight languages while shouting 'Veg! Non-veg! Pizza! Pasta!'—you're probably better off walking a few more blocks. These places exist for tourists, not for locals. And the food often tastes like it's been seasoned with regret. What to do instead: Peek inside a place where no one is trying to sell you anything. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Look for handwritten menus, people who actually live there enjoying a meal, or tiny joints tucked behind hardware stores. If grandma's in the kitchen, you're golden. Group tours can be a buzzkill Yes, they're easy. No, they're not always worth it. Especially if you're herded through a historic site like cattle while someone with a microphone recites facts you could have just Googled. Loud, rigid, and often overpriced—most group tours aren't about the experience, they're about efficiency. What to do instead: Look for free walking tours led by locals (many are tip-based), or small-group experiences run by residents through platforms like Airbnb Experiences or Withlocals. Or better yet, download a self-guided audio tour and move at your own pace—with snacks. The Souvenir shop near the main attraction is a trap If it's located right next to a major landmark, charges triple the price, and sells the same fridge magnet you saw at the airport—it's a trap. That 'handmade' scarf? Probably machine-stitched in bulk. What to do instead: Wander into local neighborhoods and explore community markets, pop-ups, or weekend fairs. Look for artists and craftspeople selling their own work. Not only do you support local creators, but you also take home something with a real story. Check the prices—and the portions Some touristy restaurants and bars will lure you in with 'local specials' and then hit you with surprise service fees, tiny portions, or inflated prices that locals would laugh at. This is especially common near airports, monuments, or cruise ports. What to do instead: Before sitting down, do a quick Google or TripAdvisor check. If a spot has hundreds of reviews in the local language, you're probably in good hands. No reviews at all? Could go either way—so trust your gut (and your nose). Follow the locals—literally See a long line of locals waiting outside a stall or tucked-away eatery? Get in it. If people are willing to stand in the heat or the rain for a meal, it's worth it. Same goes for bars, bakeries, tea shops, or street food carts. If your taxi driver eats there—it's legit. Bonus tip: Hop on public transport and get off a few stops away from the tourist center. Wander. Get lost. You'll discover more that way than any guidebook could ever offer. You're a traveler, not a customer Tourist traps treat you like a wallet on legs. But real travel? That's about stories, smells, music, laughter, getting lost, and finding unexpected joy in a quiet side street. So if something feels off—too polished, too pricey, too predictable—chances are it's been staged for you, not with you. So walk a little further. Turn off the map. And remember: the best part of travel isn't in the itinerary. It's in the detours.
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Q&A: Live Nation's Russell Wallach On The LN Partnership With Airbnb
Russell Wallach of Live Nation Ever dreamed of walking through the artist village at a major festival like Lollapalooza? Or attending a private performance? Maybe a culinary experience with a rock star? Thanks to a new partnership between Live Nation and Airbnb, beginning with Lollapalooza Berlin in July and expanding after that to Lollapalooza Chicago and other Lollas first, before other festivals and concert tours, you will have the chance to experience life the way a music industry member or band might. As Airbnb expands further into the experiential market, they have partnered with Liva Nation to make these once in a lifetime experiences available for a fee, which will of course vary based on the experience. I spoke with Russell Wallach, Global President of Live Nation's Media & Sponsorship Division, about how the partnership came to be, how it will grow and more. Steve Baltin: Russell, you spoke at the Forbes CMO Summit last year. Russell Wallach: I did, absolutely. It was incredible. It's a pleasure to be here. Baltin: Are you in Berlin for where they launched or are you in New York now? Wallach: I'm in New York right now so I did not get to go. We actually had one of our festivals, BottleRock, out in Napa Valley this weekend so can't be everywhere Steve. Baltin: What did you see there that stood out to you? Wallach: I caught Benson Boone for the first time, which was great, and the crowd was just [nuts] Baltin: That's a good segue into the Airbnb deal. You're starting with Lolla, but BottleRock is one of the most unique places on earth. Will you be bringing these experiences to more festivals or will you be looking at different ways that you can be working with other brands for things like this? Wallach: The partnership with Airbnb is starting with the Lollapaloozas around the world. Lollapaloozas really being a global brand; we've got Lolla's in Berlin and India and Brazil and obviously Chicago. We're starting with the Lollapalooza brand around the world and then the hope and plan would be to look and see where it makes sense to continue to grow that over time. It really is one of the few truly global festival brands, being Europe, US, India and South America. So, we really thought as we were working closely with the Airbnb team on this program that was really a great place to start. All of our research said that in general people are traveling to live music events and they're traveling even more to major music festivals. So, starting with music festivals was really kind of the key in planning this overall program with Airbnb and developing these custom unique experiences. We're very confident fans are just going to go absolutely crazy over this. Baltin: I think artists today are much more inclined and understand how to work with the access fans expect. What's been the artist's response to this program? Wallach: Artists understand and are closer to their fans than ever before because they can communicate now directly with their fans across all of their socials. Artists obviously have millions and tens of millions of followers. This is just really an extension of being able to now provide unique experiences while they're on the road at these festivals. But the experiences will expand beyond just with the artist. And we think that being able to bring fans to a backstage experience and for fans to be able to see the scale and size of the operations behind the scenes, to be able to walk backstage and see what's happening, we think that all of those types of experiences will be really exciting for fans as well. Baltin: One of the best experiences I ever had was I did a piece with Questlove and Jamie Oliver for Rolling Stone, where we did a food tour of Lolla. I know you're starting in Germany with a DJ by the name of BUNT, but it does feel like the possibilities are endless. Wallach: The possibilities are endless. And I think the scenario here is that we're going to be working with each festival based on what's happening with that festival, the marketplace, the local culture. There's a wide range of things, again, based on what the artists are open to in that market, whether they want to host something, whether the artists' teams want to host something interesting. I think that's a great idea, Steve. You could see some tie-ins with culinary and other types of experiences that can happen but again we're really going to work each festival as every festival is unique, and we want to really create these unique experiences at each festival developed closely with the festival teams in Airbnb. We want to be sure we have the right hosts creating those right experiences that the fans are absolutely going to love. And we know fans are traveling for these events. They're traveling with their friends. They're traveling with their families. This just adds to the overall enhancement of what already is an amazing experience for them. Baltin: Talk about how the partnership with Airbnb came about. Did they approach you or did you approach them? I know that they've been talking about wanting to do more experiential things anyway, because I mean the reality is that as fans get more sophisticated they just expect more. Wallach: I think Airbnb was seeing that more of their travelers were booking Airbnb's for major cultural events like concerts and festivals. And so it was really mutual. We had been talking for a while. We both had seen all the research and data to know that fans were traveling. We knew the fans were traveling for all of these big events around the world. Airbnb was seeing that they were securing a host of stays as well at Airbnb's, where all these big cultural moments happen. So, we knew there was something there together. And the best types of partnerships are those that were truly authored together. And we really worked closely with them to build this program from the ground up. Everything is done with this in mind. It's been it's been it's been in the works for a while. And it's really been built together from the beginning, which is which is really the best way to do it.
Skift
11-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Airbnb's Poaching Experiences, IHG's U.S. Bounce and Meliá's Expansion Plans
For today's pod we look at Airbnb's aggressive expansion approach, IHG's good news in the U.S., and Melia's equally good news about Mediterranean numbers. Skift Daily Briefing Podcast Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Listen to the day's top travel stories in under four minutes every weekday. Skift Travel Podcasts Good morning from Skift. It's Wednesday, June 11. Here's what you need to know about the business of travel today. Airbnb has been outed by two tour platforms for trying to poach their guides as the short-term rental giant looks to relaunch its Experiences business, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal. ToursByLocals and Withlocals said separately that people with Airbnb email addresses created accounts on their sites, and then violated their terms and conditions by messaging tour guides on their platforms to recruit them to Airbnb Experiences. ToursByLocals CEO Lisa Chen said those creating accounts on the site sought to take the conversations off the platform. She said ToursByLocals disabled the Airbnb accounts. Withlocals CEO Matthijs Keij wrote about Airbnb's activity in a recent Linkedin post, saying it wasn't in the spirit of fair play. Listen to This Podcast Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Youtube | RSS Next, InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Elie Maalouf is downplaying early-year turbulence in U.S. inbound travel, writes Hospitality Reporter Luke Martin. IHG saw a drop in transatlantic bookings in March, which Maalouf partly attributed to Easter taking place in April. However, he noted IHG saw travel from Europe to the U.S. rebound in April. Maalouf added that international visitors make up just 5% of IHG's bookings in the U.S., with only a small portion coming from Europe. Maalouf also said IHG is bullish on expansion in Asia, citing younger populations and faster-growing economies across the region as drivers of growth. IHG expects to open its 1,000th hotel in China within the next two years. Finally, Meliá Hotels has seen a surge in U.S. travelers at its resorts in the Mediterranean. And CEO Gabriel Escarrer is looking to expand in what he considers emerging destinations, writes Hospitality Reporter Luke Martin. Escarrer said in an interview with Skift that Meliá has not seen a slowdown in demand thus far, adding the company has been encouraged by the number of forward bookings across its European properties. He also said that Meliá is pursuing an expansion strategy focused on what he calls a 'vacation axis' spanning regions such as the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and the Middle East. Escarrer pointed to Albania, where he said Meliá is the number one hotel company, as a priority for the company.
Daily Mirror
10-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Airbnb to compete with UberEats and TripAdvisor in ambitious rebrand
Airbnb, the reigning king of short-term rental booking, is expanding its offering with the introduction of Services as part of a holistic and massive new rebrand Airbnb wants to be the single site for all your beauty, wellness and food whims - and not just while you travel. Ahead of summer, the company has launched a suite of new features and services that manages to be both ambitious and suspiciously familiar. Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky, has a bold idea to make the term 'Airbnb' synonymous with more than just booking accommodation. In fact, the company's new plans seek to effectively change the modern lexicon in favour of making 'Airbnb' the all-encompassing verb for sourcing convenient and reliable services. In May 2025, the company launched new features, including Airbnb Services, Airbnb Experiences, and a new app to make conducive to connecting with other users and decentring short-rental booking. While Airbnb Experiences is nothing particularly new, Airbnb Services is new territory for the company as it looks to expand its influence. Airbnb is looking to match the services offered by hotels - like room service, fully stocked gyms and in-house spas - by allowing users to book those services through their platform. Airbnb has launched Services with 10 categories in 260 cities, with new offerings and locations dropping regularly in the app. You can now 'Airbnb' in-home meals from professional chefs or a massage from certified therapists. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you! A major part of the brand shift for Airbnb is decoupling its experiences and services from travel abroad. To that end, users will be able to book Services in their own city, without needing to schedule a trip or accommodation first. The company says its Services hosts have been 'vetted for quality through an evaluation of expertise and reputation'. Services hosts reportedly have an average of 10 years of experience and have completed Airbnb's identity verification process. To cement its reputation for top-tier services, all hosts are also required to submit relevant licenses and certifications. There's quite a bit more to Chesky's ambitious plans for the future of the company, including new social and messaging features and advanced user profiles that function 'almost like a passport ', as reported by Wired. In a recent profile with the publication, Chesky said: 'I'm 43 and at a crossroads, where I can either be almost done or just getting started. There's a scenario where I'm basically done. Airbnb is very profitable. We've kind of, mostly, nailed vacation rentals. But we can do more.' The bold rebrand dropped amidst a major crackdown of Airbnbs in Spain which saw the removal of nearly 65,000 holiday listings from the platform. Just days after the company announced its new suite of services, it was revealed around 65,935 Airbnb properties would be delisted for breaking strict regulation rules such as not including their licence number, failing to specify whether the owner was an individual or a company, or because their listed numbers did not match official records.
The Star
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Airbnb experiences themed after K-pop boy band Seventeen to be rolled out
Airbnb collaborates with K-pop group Seventeen as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky emphasises Seoul as a strategic market. Photo: Handout In short-term lodging, experience could matter just as much or more than the spaces themselves, which is why a collaboration with a K-pop boy band such as Seventeen is beneficial, said Airbnb co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky. The collaboration included replicating the set of Seventeen's music video Love, Money, Fame (2024) into real-life accommodation, allowing Carats – as Seventeen fans are dubbed – to experience a unique stay. The props from the music video were also used to furnish the Seventeen-inspired Airbnb room. At a press conference in Seoul on June 4, the vacation rental website's head honcho recalled working with the South Korean group in 2024, a project he said had proved to be hugely popular with not only Seventeen fans, but also Airbnb travellers as a whole, because of the unique experience it offered. 'We plan to roll out Seventeen-themed Airbnb programmes in major cities,' Chesky said at the press conference, without identifying where. This followed a meet-and-greet event for 60 Seventeen fans where the K-pop act were one-day-only special Airbnb hosts, in celebration of their 10th anniversary. Seventeen Airbnb Experience, as the fan gathering was called, was a demonstration of Airbnb Originals, a celebrity-hosted exclusive experience that is part of Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb Originals was launched in May to focus on unique activities run by local hosts. The programme is to help travellers experience their local surroundings with local hosts, according to Chesky. 'The biggest asset in people's lives is really not their home – it's their time. What if people could share not only their space, but their time with someone else?' he asked. The latest trip to Seoul by the Airbnb CEO is part of his global tour to promote Airbnb Experiences. He has made stops in Paris, Berlin, Milan and Tokyo, and emphasised that Seoul is a strategic market he finds deeply inspirational. According to Airbnb South Korea, bookings on the platform in the country in 2024 soared 20% from the previous year. The make-up of international visitors to South Korea is increasingly becoming diverse, the company added without elaboration. – The Korea Herald/Asia News Network
