Rise of the travel experience

The hotel and sharing companies do not just want to sell you a room anymore. They also want to sell you an experience.

Would you like a walking tour Game of Thrones from Dubrovnik, Croatia? Marriott can book it for you. Want to create your own perfume in Paris? Airbnb can help.

Online operators such as TripAdvisor and Expedia have been booking activities for more than a decade. But Marriott and Airbnb want a bigger share of this activity, so they have added thousands of deals that travelers can book directly from their websites.

Airbnb started its experiments at the end of 2016; It now offers more than 20,000 activities in 800 cities worldwide through the "Experiences" tab of its website, ranging from a $ 12 US yoga class on a Nashville porch to US $ 175. with wolves near Seattle. Apply to Airbnb with ideas for excursions and Airbnb puts them on his site if they are accepted.

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*: Airbnb Launches Experiments, Audio Tours, Restaurant Reservations [19659004] The largest Marriott Moments program, launched in October, offers 120,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations, starting at $ 27. Marriott's partner, the online travel research company, PlacePass, is discovering and experimenting with experiences.

Marriott still offers approximately 10,000 exclusive activities to its loyalty program members. baking class at Le Cor The don blue cooking school in Paris – can only be booked with Marriott or Starwood points

On both sites, the experiences cost the same price as if travelers booked directly with tour operators. West Wine Tours, which is touring Sonoma and Napa, California, on a restored Volkswagen bus, charges US $ 125 on its website and Airbnb.

But Marriott offers an advantage: Members of his loyalty program can earn points. booking experiences. Airbnb is working on its own loyalty program, but the details have not been announced.

Sarah Ellis has booked a bike tour in Rome, a guided tour in Copenhagen and a walking tour of Harry Potter in Edinburgh, Scotland, via Airbnb. She also booked a "Sherlock" tour through TripAdvisor in London, but felt that it was too big and commercial.

"The least marketed and monopolized and standardized the best for an authentic experience," said Ellis.

say that they would avoid booking through a large company. Matthew Kagan, a partner at a communications firm based in Santa Monica, Calif., Said that he would not necessarily book anything through Airbnb or Marriott, even though he's a member of Marriott Loyalty Program

Elizabeth Barber, Associate Professor at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management of Temple University, believes that Marriott's experiences appeal to travelers who so desire .

"If I only have three days and I do not want to waste my time, they are approved by Marriott," she said.

Danielle Oteri runs a business called Feast on History that tours in Italy and New York and has offered Italian food shop tours in the Bronx since 2007. Marriott and Airbnb have directly spoken to her about her US $ 79 tour, which is offered on both websites. es. But most tours are always booked on their own site.

Oteri thinks that the growing demand for experiences stems from the similarity of global cities, with chains like Starbucks at every street corner

"When you travel, it's a lot harder. Oteri said, "It is useful for someone to introduce you to these kinds of things.

But there are disadvantages to the boom of the experiment, Oteri said. Airbnb recently started offering a tour similar to his for US $ 50. Marriott and TripAdvisor also charge a commission of 25 to 30% for the tours booked on their sites, while Airbnb takes 20%.

Nevertheless, exposure on major websites is critical for small suppliers who can not spend much on marketing. Marielle Chartier Henault says five to ten Airbnb customers a week book their one – hour swim lesson at $ 36 US in Toronto.

Joe Zadeh, Vice President of Airbnb, says that people can earn an average of $ 6,000 US per year. they organize an activity four times a month and 30,000 USD per year, hosting more than 15 activities per month. Some of his hosts earn more than $ 200,000 a year.

"It's a very good economic opportunity where you do what you love," Zadeh said.

– AP