US/Worldwide: Airbnb will integrate a dedicated hotel interface into the Airbnb app, in a move that follows Airbnb’s 2019 acquisition of HotelTonight and a full rebuild of its platform to support new service offerings.
The interface will showcase homes, inns, boutique hotels, and bed-and-breakfasts in a single platform. The “Homes” tab may be renamed “Stays” and will include a swipeable carousel to browse different room types. A pilot launch is planned in select cities, including New York.
The initiative comes after Airbnb updated its fee structure to align more closely with hotel industry standards, enabling the company to compete more directly with OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said: “The concrete thing is we are now getting serious about hotels. We bought HotelTonight. We always had intended to integrate it into Airbnb. Then the pandemic hit, and similar to Experiences, we put everything on hold.
“We’re going to bring a lot of boutiques and a lot of independent hotels on Airbnb, what we found is that the vast majority of people that come to Airbnb, if they don’t find a home they like, they go to another website to book a hotel. [If] we just have hotels there, then they’re gonna get an infinite amount of bookings, because we are accessed by 1.6 billion devices a year.”
This integration reflects Airbnb’s broader vision to become a comprehensive platform for travel and living worldwide, providing users with a full spectrum of accommodation and service options.
By combining homes and hotels under one interface, Airbnb aims to capture bookings that would traditionally go to other websites, positioning itself as an end-to-end travel platform.
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Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has announces a hotel interface coming to the Airbnb app.
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The update follows Airbnb’s HotelTonight acquisition and tech rebuild.
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Interface will feature homes, inns, B&Bs, and boutique hotels under a single platform.
