You don’t have to be famous to host an experience on the new Airbnb platform — but you do have to be interesting.
After a two-year pause on accepting new experiences to the platform, Airbnb is officially re-launching with a new app design and a renewed focus on experiences that – they say – are unique, interesting, differentiated and high quality.
“We’ve re-designed the entire concept of what Airbnb Experiences are,” said Dave Stephenson, Chief Business Officer at Airbnb, in an interview with Arival.
Airbnb initially announced the re-launch in Arival’s 11 March 2025 newsletter, calling for operators to add new experiences to the platform. The new app goes public today as part of Airbnb’s Summer Release, which also includes the addition of “Services” and “Airbnb Originals.”
So what’s actually new with Airbnb Experiences after the two year “pause,” and what do the latest changes and updates mean for operators? Learn more in this on-location Arival interview with Stephenson. Skip to the full video interview below.
“Experiences, Reimagined”: What’s Actually New
It’s a common tactic among tech companies — all companies, really — to put a shiny new label or “re-brand” on something and call it new without changing much of substance. So what’s actually new with Airbnb Experiences, beneath the flowery language?
1. Renewed Focus on “Unique” Experiences
According to Stephenson, a key reason for the “pause” on experiences two years ago was “ we learned that we had lost our way in having these unique, differentiated experiences of high quality.”
“ We had many experiences that weren’t fitting with a given city. We had many experiences that weren’t kind of meeting the quality expectations. And many of the experiences just weren’t unique enough to fit with Airbnb as being differentiated versus what you could get elsewhere. And so we’ve learned from that and we’re rebuilding from that.”
So what does it take to be considered “unique”? One key factor Airbnb is focused on is a “city model” with experiences that “should be really fitting with the city itself that they’re in, they should be a fit to the place.” Another key factor is having hosts with a unique perspective to offer. For example, a tour of Notre-Dame through the eyes of an architect from its restoration team. “Those are the kinds of things that are going to stand out.”
2. Airbnb “Originals”
Originals are experiences exclusively designed for Airbnb, ranging from pastry-making at the French Bastards bakery with chef Raphaelle Elbaz to transforming into your anime alter-ego with Megan Thee Stallion (pictured in the header above). Originals are hosted by “ the world’s most interesting people doing interesting things in amazing places,” Stephenson explains.
Although they sound similar to “Icons,” which Airbnb announced with much fanfare and to mixed reviews last year, Stephenson explains Originals are intended to be more accessible (i.e. affordable) for a wider range of people.
“Icons was super unique, really differentiated, incredible once in lifetime experiences, but only maybe a handful of people might ever get to do them,” said Stephenson. With Originals, “ you’ll actually be able to book them on Airbnb, pick specific time, offered multiple times a week… it’s bringing unique things to everybody.”
3. Landmarks
Airbnb is calling a lot of attention to its Originals, which are prominent in some markets such as Los Angeles. However, another important category is “Landmarks,” which represent tours and experiences around major visitor attractions and museums. The Experiences page for Rome, for example, features the city’s most popular cultural sites in its top listings, some offered by tour operators.
4. A New App
Airbnb launched the new app today which puts experiences and the newly-added “services” alongside homes in the user flow.
The new app also includes enhanced social elements, like profiles and messaging. Guests can see in advance who else will be on their experience, share photos and stay connected through the app afterwards.
The Opportunities — and Challenges — For Operators Working With Airbnb
Airbnb works with “tens of thousands” of operators, and they are looking to expand In addition to visibility on the platform, one of the clear benefits for operators on Airbnb is the commission rate — at 20% it is competitively low compared to other online resellers, or OTAs. (Note: in the interview Stephenson quotes 15%, this rate is for “Services,” not “Experiences,” Airbnb later clarified — but some operators are getting a special rate of 10% through June, Arival has also learned.)
Operators who work with multiple resellers can also benefit from Airbnb’s API integration — Airbnb integrates with around a dozen of the most common booking systems, Stephenson shares — including Fareharbor, Bokun, Peek and Ventrata.
But working with Airbnb has its share of challenges, from exclusivity requirements to operators having experiences cancelled, and — more recently — challenges around AI-edited tour descriptions and tour times being changed.
According to Stephenson, some of these are growing pains are related to the re-launch of experiences.
“ It was expediency to help us get this ready to launch,” he explained. “We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for a year and a half, and we had to have thousands of pieces of inventory to make sure that they have high quality descriptions, great images… So we used AI to help accelerate some of that.”
“Hosts will be able to go back in and make modifications,” he clarified. “They actually have to approve and make sure that they’re okay with what we’ve described. They’ll continue to be able to refine it and iterate over time.”
In regards to exclusivity, this is no longer a requirement for Airbnb Experiences (though it is for Originals). Still, it is preferred: the social elements of Airbnb’s new app work best if all the guests on a particular experience have booked through Airbnb, Stephenson explained.
Finally, Stephenson recognized that tying experiences to particular hosts can be a challenge for operators who have multiple guides leading experiences. “We’ll be giving them more tools to be able to manage that over time,” he said.
However, he emphasized that it’s still ideal for the host to be determined beforehand, as their identity is an important part of what makes the experience unique. “ It’s really important for us to have the guests know who they’re actually being hosted by, why they want to take this experience with this particular host.”
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Succeeding as an Operator on The “New” Airbnb Experiences
So what kind of operators — and experiences — will do well on the “reimagined” Airbnb?
“We’re not letting just anything come on to Airbnb,” said Stephenson. “We’re making sure that it fits with the city, that the experience is high quality, really unique and works with a particular place that they’re at.”
1. Size matters less than quality and uniqueness
To be successful on Airbnb you don’t necessarily have to be small. “ We have unique people that have actually never done it before, but are interesting, unique people that are doing really cool things,” said Stephenson, “and we have larger operators that are bringing on some of their best quality tours and experiences onto Airbnb.” The emphasis is not on size, but on uniqueness and quality.
2. Experiences tailored to individual cities’ character
“ We have an idea of the city model, the understanding of what kinds of trips do people want to take in a city?” Stephenson encourages operators who want to launch new tours in a particular city to consider what the city is known for. “ What’s unique and different about [your city]? Have a unique point of view, unique experience and skill that you’re bringing to bear, and that is the kind of experience that you want.”
3. Experiences “Original” to Airbnb
“Originals” will benefit from greater visibility on the Airbnb platform, according to Stephenson. “These things that are only unique to Airbnb will also be elevated and promoted to a higher level than the things that are not as unique.” This means operators may only sell them through Airbnb.
Interested in learning more? Check out Airbnb’s experience host portal here, and watch the full interview with Dave Stephenson below:
Interview with Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson
This reporter’s trip to the Airbnb event was sponsored by Airbnb.
Learn More about Experiences with Arival
Arival is the go-to resource for providers of tours, activities, attractions and experiences. Join us at the next Arival event in Washington DC in October 2025 or Valencia, Spain in April 2026 to learn more about experience design and what it takes to succeed on distribution channels like Airbnb.
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Header photo: Credit Adrienne Raquel, Image Provided by Airbnb
