Airbnb is launching a new feature, called Historic Homes, to capitalize on demand for heritage travel and make it easier for guests to find older places to stay, the company announcement Thursday (July 7).
It comes as historic home bookings in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy increased by more than 54% in 2021 compared to 2019. The new feature will allow customers to find things like converted chapels and castles, among others. , 19th century or earlier.
Additionally, the company has rolled out its Heritage Academy in France, Italy and Spain, which provides potential Hosts with a toolkit and a personal Host Ambassador to help them train to become a Host for one of these houses.
“The new Historic Homes category on Airbnb will not only allow travelers from around the world to experience the richness of Europe’s cultural heritage, but it will also open up previously overlooked destinations and help disperse tourism and its economic benefits more evenly.” , said Emmanuel Marill, Airbnb Regional Manager, EMEA.
“With the Airbnb Heritage Academy, we aim to provide historic owners with everything they might need to thrive as heritage tourism advocates and entrepreneurs,” Marill continued.
Historial Homes will initially be available in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, although the company plans to expand into other countries.
It also comes as Airbnb co-founder and chief strategy officer Nathan Blecharczyk recently hosted members of the European Parliament on how to update European Union accommodation rules. Discussions reportedly focused on how the two entities can build “sustainable tourism models” to help locals while protecting communities.
See also: European lawmakers meet Airbnb on hosting rules
Many citizens have not been able to benefit from the economic opportunities of home sharing due to “unfriendly” local rules that generally seem to favor the big players.
Blecharcyzk said the majority of hosts were “ordinary families” and that new rules could help Europeans looking to get into housesharing. They could also let governments get more tools to reduce the activity of real estate speculators.
——————————
NEW PYMNTS DATA: HOW UTILITIES AND CONSUMER FINANCE COMPANIES CAN IMPROVE THE BILL PAYMENT EXPERIENCE
About: More than half of utilities and consumer finance companies have the ability to digitally process all monthly bill payments. The kicker? Only 12% of them do. The Digital Payments Edge, a collaboration between PYMNTS and ACI Worldwide, surveyed 207 billing and collections professionals at these companies to find out why going digital remains elusive.
Comments are closed.