Skift Travel News Blog

Is Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky hinting at long-term rentals when he said to expect what could be “the biggest update to Airbnb ever?” 

Chesky told The Financial Times, Airbnb will venture beyond its core travel business. Starting next year, the online rental platform will expand into longer-term housing rentals and enhance its experiences and services offerings like “dining pop-ups.” He added, “there’s an eventual opportunity for Airbnb to become a greater part of your daily life. Not just once or twice a year.”

The Airbnb CEO believes that there’s an untapped market for rentals lasting up to a year, citing the shift towards remote work and extended stays. While only 18% of gross nights booked in the second quarter of this year were for stays longer than 30 days, Chesky sees great potential in extended stays.

This strategic shift comes as Airbnb faces scrutiny from regulators globally over its impact on housing availability in major cities. New York recently introduced rules restricting short-term rentals, but Chesky doesn’t consider it a precedent, emphasizing potential win-win solutions. Airbnb’s future plans also include dining experiences, he told The Financial Times.

Travelers make multiple purchases in preparation for their trip, a consideration Tripadvisor believes should be noticed by marketers. The company honed in on the purchasing intent of its audience and found that despite rising prices, plans to travel is on par with 2019 levels.

Tripadvisor’s latest research report, with some 5,000 respondents across six countries, indicates purchasing behavior of travelers and its influence across industries is being overlooked.

It’s one thing that the pandemic did not disrupt in travel.

The intent when planning a trip is broader than flights, accommodations, and activities, according Tripadvisor.

“Part of the fun for travelers is the planning (and spending!) before a trip. Consumers find travel is a great excuse to buy new clothes, special toys, or just the right gear.”

Of those surveyed, the most bought item in preparation for a trip is clothes (89 percent), followed by luggage (72 percent), and electronics (62 percent). Tripadvisor stated these are “not one-off purchases, with respondents (luggage being an exception) buying these items at least 2-3 times in the past three years before traveling.”

And while three-quarters of those surveyed do plan to reduce discretionary spending, cuts to travel plans are a no-go “with saving for future vacations the top priority.”

Americans want savvy pricing regarding their travel experiences in the new year, as they keep an open mind about the type of things they plan to book. 

U.S. travelers are prioritizing price-driven travel in 2023, according to the latest Skyscanner data looking at travel preferences for 2023. The metasearch travel company added that 46 percent of consumers are planning the same number of vacations in 2023 as 2022, and 41 percent are thinking of even going on more trips next year. What’s more, 86 percent of respondents said they plan to spend the same, if not more, on travel in 2023. 

So, as vacations get prioritized next year over other big-ticket items, it’s interesting to note where people are headed to. Tours and activities brand Viator, owned by Tripadvisor, has just announced their 2022 Fastest-growing Travel Experiences list. From guided hiking in Puerto Rico to ghostly city tours in York, the list is based on the most bookings within a set period, and rated against over 300 different experiences.

1. Siesta Key Electric Bike Sunset Tour
2. Grand Canyon West Rim Bus Tour & Hoover Dam Photo Stop with Optional Skywalk
3. Bonaventure Cemetery Walking Tour with Transportation
4. Chef Guided Food Tour of Pike Place Market
5. Sunset Sail in Key West with Beverages Included

The Siesta Key Electric Bike Sunset Tour has seen the most interest on the travel booking platform. Listed in the On The Ground, Mountain biking category the tour has some 590 reviews and 5 stars – although all the trips included in the fastest growing experiences in the US and Canada have 5 stars.

The second and third slots see a full-day Grand Canyon tour and a walking tour of a cemetery. Unfortunately, Viator doesn’t detail by what margin the tours grew or the number of overall bookings.

The categories show that outdoor adventures, with a green element or macabre twist, are top of mind for day-tour bookings.

The short booking travel booking windows that became the predominant mode of booking in the pandemic — for obvious reasons with lots of uncertainty around Covid & travel plan — are holding strong and in fact increasing in the 0-21 days window, according to the latest quarterly data from Expedia Media Solutions.

Globally, the 0- to 21- day search window saw the largest growth, with a 10 perfect increase in search share quarter-over-quarter, the new data says. The majority of global domestic searches in Q3 fell within the 0- to 30-day window. EMEA domestic search share for the 0- to 30-day window increased 15% quarter-over-quarter, as continued regional instability may be causing people to look for trips in the short-term, while LATAM domestic search share increased 10% quarter-over-quarter in both the 0- to 30-day and 91- to 80-day windows.

The charts below speak to the continued strength of shorter windows globally, and then breakdown by region and domestic windows vs international.

Despite the sustained popularity of shorter search windows, there are signs that travelers are beginning to plan further out. Regionally, travelers from EMEA and North America are looking at and planning travel for next year, as evidenced by share growth in the 180+ day search window, up 25% quarter-over-quarter in EMEA and 20% in North America. In APAC, the strongest share growth occurred in the 91- to 180-day search window, up 10% quarter-over-quarter.