Airbnb aims to be “the Amazon of travel”, per co-founder Brian Chesky. Now it’s banking on building a bigger services marketplace as a way to boost uptake – and revenues – in Australia, one of the platform’s five “mature markets”, per country lead, Susan Wheeldon.

But also to take a bigger share of wallet in Asia, where she says Australians squeezed by high interest rates and rising costs are increasingly headed for cheaper adventures, exploiting the dollar-yen-dong differential. And hopefully, hiring a gourmet chef to come to their apartment to cook a three course meal “or teach them how to make ramen”.

“Recently, seven out of our top 10 destinations were all in Japan. We’re seeing Vietnam rising through the ranks as well, because of affordability,” she told Mi3.

Perhaps not what Tourism Australia CMO Susan Coghill wants to hear. But Wheeldon said Airbnb’s marketplace push should boost local tourism and hospitality coffers. She cited Oxford Economics calculations suggesting Airbnb guests in 2023 “put $13.6bn into the economy”.

Which is a useful stat to wield to regulators as states respond to local pressure and hotel operators compete aggressively on price.

“Airbnb is all for fair and sensible regulations,” per Wheeldon.

“We support a code of conduct, we support a registration scheme. They’re things that we have advocated for and partner with governments on. For those that have done things like night caps” – capping the number of nights that property owners can rent on a short-term basis, in places like Byron Bay, for example – “they’re ones that we will continue to monitor and to see how that’s impacting on the economic tourism part there, because obviously, Airbnb is such a valuable contributor to the Australian economy.”

Reinforcing the point, she said of Airbnb’s 200,000-plus Australian property providers, “something like 80 per cent” have a single listing and that “73 per cent of hosts need the money that they earn from hosting to either stay in their own home, or to offset the rising cost of living”.

Or to actually afford to go on holiday themselves.

Wheeldon said the new experience services will likewise benefit the “micro-entrepreneurs” providing them, citing a “Navy SEAL boot camp in Bondi” and pie making with Wonder Pies in Melbourne. Which could nudge up the economic contribution ledger, though a tough 2024, in which rental prices declined 11 per cent and costs for hosts increased could alter the maths.

Either way, as generative AI agents start to change travel and experience booking dynamics, Airbnb is backing an app overhaul, a relaunched experiences marketplace and Airbnb Services and Originals (local and celebrity experiences) to keep customers within its expanding walls – and drive incremental revenue through last-minute experience bookings based on location, convenience and availability. It thinks a billion dollars in annual revenue are there for the taking.

It’s also a defensive play as regulators globally forcefully diminish the platform’s rentals. Services are less prone to intervention.

Investors seem to back its view, with Airbnb’s share price up circa 20 per cent in the last month, though its market cap remains roughly half of its February 12-month high.

Along with groceries, Wheeldon said travel was the last thing consumers cut from their discretionary spending. If they are seeking value, then bundling in extra services could prove a challenge – but Wheeldon said the platform is playing across all price-points “and we see lots, lots more [service providers] coming onto the platform”.

The good news for Tourism Australia and its regional counterparts?

Domestic travel is “really strong,” per Wheeldon – who grew up in the Queensland outback town of Morven. As of 11 May, per Airbnb search data, top trending Australian winter destinations were: Whitsundays; Brisbane, Maroochydore, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Newcastle, Southport, Pokolbin and North Stradbroke Island.

“People love a driving holiday, we’ve got so many airfare sales kicking in … And we are seeing a little bit more regional tourism dispersal; people wanting to get outside the main places because there is better value to be found.”

Wheeldon wouldn’t disclose how the platform is tracking in Australia, but that revenue and booking growth is “in line with global … so we have the same strong growth that global has got”.

On channel strategy, she indicated the plan is to prioritise revenue per user over awareness and new customer acquisition. 

“It would be hard to find an Aussie who doesn’t know about Airbnb, we are a noun and a verb … We’re just about getting more people out, travelling more often … trying new experiences. We’re all about growing the overall tourism pie.”