Airbnb’s New Gig: Selling Days with Celebs Like Sabrina Carpenter & Patrick Mahomes

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Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky had a problem that he wanted to solve.

When the business began operations in 2008, it aimed to revolutionize global travel by offering a simple concept: Rent out your home or a room within it as an accommodation option for travelers.

But that was always a starting point.

In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Chesky mused that it had never occurred to him before that people’s most valuable resource – their time and full earning potential – hadn’t been monetized. He began contemplating the idea: What if Airbnb could offer more than just a place to stay?

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Chesky reflected, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that it was surprising people hadn’t found a way to capitalize on their biggest asset – their time and earning potential. He pondered the question: Could Airbnb offer more than just a rental property?

On Tuesday, the tech company is introducing a significant update to their services and app, incorporating various offerings such as massages, personal training sessions, and meal plans. These new features will be tailored specifically for each city or region, offering unique experiences like pastry-making classes in Paris, lucha libre events in Mexico City, or gallery tours in New York.

Instead of traditional tour operators, how about we connect with extraordinary individuals worldwide – from culinary masters, footwear designers, musical artists, to renowned celebrities. Airbnb’s CEO proposes that we verify these exceptional figures and simplify the process for booking them. Imagine experiences that are more than just transactions; they become social events where you can interact with other participants, exchange messages, and maintain contact long after the event. The whole process would be designed to be effortless.

So, his company is making it happen.

The outcome encompasses everything from ordinary to extraordinary, spanning a broad spectrum. In terms of celebrities, Chesky mentions that the company has “many” well-known figures from music, sports, and entertainment waiting to join. The first set of once-in-a-lifetime encounters will feature opportunities such as spending a day playing football and barbecuing with Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, visiting the Short n’ Sweet set with Sabrina Carpenter, and spending a day with Megan Thee Stallion, among others. More experiences will be announced in the coming weeks.

According to Chesky, the concept originated from Airbnb Icons’ launch last year, where the company offered numerous iconic sites (both genuine and fictional ones) as accommodation options for their customers. Some of these unique places, like the X-Men Mansion in Westchester County, New York, provided an immersive experience beyond just a place to stay.

In a shift of direction, Chesky explains, Airbnb will now offer unique experiences with celebrities instead of just home rentals. This new initiative, called Airbnb Originals, allows users to book exclusive lessons such as music classes from emerging artists or beach volleyball sessions with Olympic champions. Chesky envisions this platform as a space where everyone, from up-and-coming talents like Sabrina Carpenter to renowned superstars, can participate. The goal is to provide fans with once-in-a-lifetime experiences and allow them to connect intimately, while less popular artists can use the platform to grow their fanbase and eventually become stars on Airbnb.

Absolutely, the experiences the company has developed are showcased quite prominently through celebrity examples. At the initial release, these experiences will span approximately 650 cities worldwide, encompassing a wide variety of topics such as art, culture, cuisine, fitness, outdoor activities, and many more.

In order to establish a global network, Chesky explains that we needed influential figures from various urban communities. These individuals ranged from culinary experts, musicians, entertainment professionals, and athletes, among others. Our task was to collaborate with these contacts in cities worldwide, who then assisted us in identifying and enlisting numerous hosts. Once identified, they were integrated into our system.

Airbnb is additionally incorporating social networking elements revolving around these experiences, with ambitions to recapture some of the charm of early social media from the mid-2000s, when platforms such as Facebook focused more on connecting with actual friends rather than video suggestions driven by algorithms or AI-created content.

The Airbnb platform is undergoing a significant revamp, with Brian Chesky describing it as one of the most substantial changes the company has ever undertaken.

Our aim was to establish a real-world network where individuals can travel, reside, and feel at home anywhere, thus requiring an initial step to make this possible. I believe that shared experiences are key to achieving this goal. My ambition is for our company to encourage people to engage more with the physical world, enjoying its wonders. Essentially, that’s what we’re working towards here.

He mentions that the experiences we’ve created are tailored for travelers, and I suspect many folks in New York City would also enjoy participating in these experiences, especially on a Friday night. I believe that over time, a significant portion of our business will likely be people using us to explore their own cities.

Chesky, known as one of Silicon Valley’s progressive entrepreneurs, envisions Airbnb as reflecting the spirit of the nearby tech hub in its early days, where companies seemed to bring together individuals through shared passions and positivity. In this imagined future, when a user books a group activity on Airbnb, the app would link them with others they’ve previously taken a cooking class with, allowing for the exchange of photos from the experience or direct messaging. This platform fosters connections based on real-life experiences, rather than showcasing someone else’s life through videos.

Upon my arrival in Silicon Valley, the iPhone was freshly unveiled, Facebook had expanded its user base beyond college students, and there were these platforms known as social networks, enabling people to stay connected. However, children today don’t seem to be engaging with such platforms,” Chesky muses, expressing concern over the algorithmic video streams of Instagram and TikTok. “Often, I pondered, what if we could construct a social network in reality instead? Not in the digital realm because it wouldn’t be an ad-driven parasocial thing then; it would be something entirely unique.

He believes that Airbnb could serve as the central platform for this future network, potentially even acting as a balancing force against the AI-driven transformation that’s rapidly spreading in Silicon Valley.

Chesky expresses his desire for Airbnb’s profile to be the most trusted online identity, backed by our verification of 200 million identities. He also highlights engaging social features that enable connections between users, likening it to an early version of Facebook, but in reality rather than virtuality. As children increasingly immerse themselves in digital devices, he emphasizes the importance of leveraging technology to encourage interactions in the physical world. Chesky believes that while AI is captivating, there’s nothing more enchanting than real-life experiences, human connections, and shared memories.

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2025-05-13 21:56