Airbnb has managed to do its one thing—short-term rentals—quite well. Despite the damaging ripples it has had in the housing market and the annoyance of steep and once-hidden cleaning fees, the company has managed to grab hold of nearly half of the global booking market. Instead of just continuing to specialize in the thing it was made to do, Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky wants to turn the platform into an Airbnb for everything, allowing users to book services and experiences like chefs, beauticians, and tours, and more.
Chesky went on a bit of a media tour to announce the change, talking to the Wall Street Journal and Wired in the most self-aggrandizing tone imaginable to hype up the shift in vision—but we’ll get to the CEO. First, the new Airbnb. Per WSJ, the updated app will now include three icons that will represent homes, experiences, and services. The company has reportedly partnered with over 10,000 vendors operating in 260 cities in 30 countries, according to Wired. They can be booked directly through the app.
The company is also adding experiences, which is actually a path that it’s been down before but quickly abandoned. The first iteration was called Airbnb Adventures and launched in 2019, offering “bucket list worthy” experiences hosted by local experts before pausing the feature in 2023 to focus on its core offerings. Apparently, it’s done with that focus and is back into the business of sprawling offerings. According to Wired, the company has secured 22,000 experiences in 650 cities this time, including some celebrity-led ones like a promised option to book a seat next to Conan O’Brien in his podcast studio.
To help guide people through all of these options, the company also reportedly plans to launch an AI-powered concierge that can help people plan a trip that ropes in unique experiences and services along the way.
All of this feels very 2010s Silicon Valley, back when being the “Uber for anything” was all the rage. That includes the roll out of this announcement, which is centered around Chesky himself, and he has not been shy about leaning into the favored framework of the genius founder who has a singular vision that no one else can capture. Never mind the fact that half of this makeover is a thing Airbnb tried before, and the other half is just the revelation that people sometimes book things other than rental properties.
In Wired, Chesky describes sitting down in late 2023 and writing a manifesto for what his company could be: “I was basically going from room to room just pouring out this stream-of-consciousness manifesto, like Jack Kerouac writing On the Road.” Which, sure man, you can compare your business plan to the defining work of the counterculture movement. That’s a choice you can make.
Over at WSJ, Chesky went on about “founder mode“—a set of principles that are supposed to guide Silicon Valley executives but largely amount to encouraging tinkerers and tyrants. He also seems to be going against several of his “founder mode” principles, including: “Stay small. Stay flat. Stay functional. Have as few people and as few layers as possible for as long as possible.” Hard to imagine going any bigger and broader than being an “everything” app.
Back to Wired, Chesky declares that he’s the spiritual successor to Steve Jobs, a person he never once met: “I feel like I know him deeply, professionally, in a way that few people ever did, in a way that you only possibly could by starting a tech company as a creative person and going on a rocket ship.” But don’t worry, he doesn’t see himself at that level yet. He told the Journal, “I’m more like a disciple. I’m more like a painter who studies Michelangelo. I’m not ever saying I’m going to be Michelangelo, but I believe in that school of thought.”
You may have forgotten for a second that this is not an artist, but rather a rich guy who hit it big on one idea and is now trying to parlay that into even more wealth through a relatively obvious (albeit probably unnecessary) pivot positioned as a revolution. Might be worth booking a therapist to work on your ego, my guy.
