Airbnb announced it has paused new Experiences, an initiative that aims to give people a 'local #travel experience' and one the company said a year ago it was investing in.

“As part of our focus on perfecting the core service, including Airbnb Experiences, we are pausing submissions of all new Experiences,” the San Francisco-based company said in a statement. “We are excited about the future of Airbnb Experiences and expect to provide more information in the coming months.”

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist:

Airbnb’s zigzagging business behavior shows the company’s lack of clearly defined strategy, hence the latest case with removing experiences from its home page.

Another example: Rewarding individual hosts at the expense of professional short-term rental companies? Due to housing shortages practically all over the world, the future is in professionally managed properties and purpose-built vacation rental properties, not in the limited number of spare bedrooms in city apartments and single family homes.

Another example: where is Airbnb’s loyalty program? Half of Airbnb’s clients alternate stays at short-term rentals and hotels depending on the length and purpose of their trip.

All of them get points and perks at hotels and none when staying at Airbnb properties. Marriott has 170 million loyalty members, Hilton -150 million. These are considered these brands’ main tangible assets.

Airbnb has zero loyalty members. Why? Focusing on everything else, including saving the planet, except where they should or where it matters. This is why Wall Street is taking notice.