Airbnb hints at offering new hotel-like perks such as private chefs and spa services

Airbnb has hinted at the possibility of adding luxury services to the platform. Photo / 123rf

If you love a good massage or chef-cooked meal while travelling but also enjoy the familiar comforts of staying in a house, Airbnb has good news for you.

Airbnb is considering adding luxury amenities to its platform next year to tempt travellers away from hotels.

The company’s chief business officer Dave Stephenson hinted at the tactic during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Paris Olympics.

Airbnb has already grown from just offering accommodation to experiences but is now considering adding “services that will make it better for guests to stay in Airbnbs”, Stephenson said.

These could include private chefs, room cleaning, spa treatments, fridge restocking, and even simpler check-in systems; essentially, things people like about hotels.

Airbnb was founded in August 2008 and initially was an accommodation platform but has since expanded to include bookable experiences.

There are understandable reasons why travellers still opt for a hotel over an Airbnb, whether it’s to avoid checkout chore lists, difficult hosts or complicated check-in processes. Hotels, despite being less unique, can be seen as a more consistent experience.

On social media, cleaning chores or fees have been especially popular as a topic, both from guests complaining about the long lists they’re required to do, or people sharing their lives as Airbnb cleaners or hosts.

“Make $85 an hour” one woman captioned a TikTok video explaining how she adds an $85 cleaning fee to her Airbnb listing, then cleans it herself in an hour. Dozens of other videos show how necessary a cleaning fee is, given how dirty some guests leave a place.

However, one traveller complained about how his two-night Airbnb booking jumped from $344 to $972 after accounting for fees, including a host fee of $425.

“You better clean the place while I’m there,” he said, “because I can go to a hotel and they’re gonna make my bed, they gonna give me free soap, free lotion, what am I getting here?”

@jsmartinlive

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The man said the fees were “getting ridiculous” as he could just go to a hotel instead, which would have a front desk for check-in and fewer rules about noise or cleanliness.

Airbnb may not remove a host’s freedom to charge additional fees such as cleaning fees but does seem interested in offering guests hotel-like perks such as simple check-in and mid-stay cleaning.

Guests eager for these additions will have to wait until early 2025 for more official details about the announcement, Stephenson said.

Sarah Pollok is an Auckland-based journalist covering travel stories who joined the Herald in 2021. She specialises in exploring destinations, testing travel hacks and helping you budget for adventures.