Walt Disney Company veteran Catherine Powell (left) has been handed the reins of Airbnb Experiences, a growing segment in the group.
Powell will serve on Airbnb’s executive team and manage a team spanning five continents to grow the number of offerings and support Airbnb Experience Hosts.
Her appointment comes as consumers, particularly Millennials and Generation Z, are increasingly choosing to spend their time and money on local, authentic things to do rather than on consumer goods, Airbnb noted in a press announcement. Euromonitor estimated that “consumer’s expenses with experiences should increase from $5.8 trillion in 2016 to $8 trillion in 2030.”
Launched in 2016, Airbnb Experiences now features 40,000 Experiences in more than 1,000 cities around the world.
“Today, people are prioritizing things to do, not things to buy,” said Airbnb co-Founder, CEO and head of community Brian Chesky. “I believe Airbnb Experiences will be a massive business. Not everyone has a home to rent out, but everyone has a story, a passion or a talent they can share.
“Airbnb is a truly inspiring company with a mission that sits at the heart of the Experiences Economy,” said Powell. “People don’t just want to travel. They want to connect with the people and places they visit. The opportunity to bring people from around the world together to share their communities, cultures, and passions is extraordinarily exciting. I’ve seen firsthand how Experience Hosts take Guests on amazing adventures and I know Airbnb has a unique opportunity to deliver experiences that are distinct, authentic, immersive, and memorable. The potential for this business is virtually unlimited.”
In 2019, Airbnb launched new categories of Experiences including Airbnb Adventures, Cooking Experiences and Animal Experiences. Airbnb will launch additional categories in the coming year.
Some data points of interest:
- As of January 1, across 10 most popular Experiences markets (Paris, Bali, Rome, Mexico City, London, Lisbon, New York, Barcelona, Los Angeles, and Havana), the number of available Experiences nearly doubled from the beginning of 2019 to the beginning of 2020, from 3,800 to over 7,500.
- The number of Experience bookings in Bali nearly tripled from 2018 to 2019. In Rome, the number of bookings grew 161 percent; in Mexico City, 95 percent.
- The number of guests booking an Airbnb Experience from December 24 to December 31, 2019 more than doubled compared to the same timeframe in 2018.
- In 2019 in certain cities like Seattle, Sydney and São Paulo, more than 15 percent of all Experience bookings were made by local users.
- The growth of Airbnb Experiences coincides with the larger growth of the Experiences Economy and consumers’ desire to spend their time and money on things to do, not things to buy. In a recent Morning Consult poll1 conducted for Airbnb, more than 50 percent of consumers in Mexico, France, Australia, India, the UK, the US, Germany and Brazil indicated they would prefer to spend money on experiences, not physical goods.
Data suggests this trend will continue, with a majority of consumers saying they will spend as much or more on experiences in 2020.
The desire to participate in meaningful experiences is particularly pronounced among Generation Z, people born after 1996. In a second survey conducted by Morning Consult, 46% of Gen Z adults in the US plan to increase their spending on experiences, with 35% looking towards food-related and 31% personal wellness activities such as yoga or spending time in nature as a means of “digitally detoxing” experiences topping the list of popular choices.
