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Airbnb has quietly stopped onboarding new experiences and removed tours and activities from its homepage. However, the company still has an active Experience page where location-based, curated experiences can be booked. A former regional director of Tripadvisor's Viator, Baidi Li, said that the pause on new applications to launch Airbnb experiences was "totally sensible," allowing Airbnb to focus on its core business to grow it's sharing economy product at scale. Some hosts believe Airbnb has already "dumped experiences," but others see the pause as a good thing, suggesting the platform was overrun with non-experience options.

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This isn’t the only bad press Airbnb has received in the past few weeks. All of this follows the release of a short report Thursday by Edwin Dorsey, the publisher of The Bear Cave newsletter, which raised concerns about the competition Airbnb faces from its top hosts. Hosts have been making an effort to separate from the platform by establishing their own booking platforms, providing cheaper deals, increasing their email lists, and offering loyalty discounts to book directly with them instead of Airbnb. 

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Because of all this negative press, now is a great time to separate yourself from the Airbnb Pack and create lasting relationships with your guests. These relationships will be critical for growing your brand and thus improving your business.

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Here are the 3 Ways To Strengthen Your Brand Through Offering Experiences.

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1. Provide your Guests with Resources and Recommendations

Your guests haven't booked dozens of experiences through Airbnb. They're not heartbroken by this news. Chances are they didn’t even know that was an option. They are so used to planning everything themselves. Take the first step. Help them out! Use email, a printed-out document, or a digital guest app.Give your guests great ideas for their trip. Your guests want your advice and curated options! Don’t overwhelm them with 100 things to do. According to scientific research, this will only make choosing something harder. They will attach these negative feelings to their experience and your brand.

Use Lists

Give your guests a list of your top 10 things to do and let them sort it out from there. Make the recommendations personalized and add special tips. For example: “The Alta Ski Area gets busy on the weekends. During a powder day, you can expect to wait in traffic for up to 2 hours. Our Advice? Get in line before 7:30 to avoid major delays and ensure you get a parking spot!”.

Personalize

Make it personal, as if you had a friend visiting! This will make guests feel taken care of, and like they have someone watching out for them. Which will only add to their positive experience with your brand!

2. Partner with Local Businesses or Affiliate Programs

You can grow your business and your brand in many ways. But often, the easiest way to measure this is through revenue. Upsells and affiliate marketing are great ways to increase your revenue. If you don’t have your own experiences to offer guests, you can partner with other businesses. One of the fastest ways to do this is using 3rd party experience companies like Viator. Sharing a list of curated experiences offered by Viator earns you extra income. You get a percentage of every booking you help make. The DACK app is the easiest way to start getting paid with Viator. Through the app, it’s simple to set up an account and get your curated list of experiences in front of your guests.

Create Local Partnerships

Another great way to grow your brand is by partnering with local businesses in your area. Promote each other's businesses in exchange for discounts or promotions. This is a fantastic way to increase your brand awareness and bring in new customers.

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3. Build Your Brand Around An Experience

A strong brand identity is critical. Do you have a unique location, business, or specialized skill? If so, you have a great way to strengthen your brand. Location is everything. Depending on your rental location, hiring or creating a tour or activity should be easy. Wineries create a wine-tasting or touring experience. Or partner with a company that already has a tour and help create a custom experience for your guests! If you happen to be a very talented chef, you can offer a cooking class, or prepare a meal. Offer a knife sharpening class. Weird or random can make for a great and unique offering!

Invest in Recurring Revenue Drivers

Do you have a rental on a lake? Invest in different recreational equipment. Paddle boards, fishing rods, kayaks, or even a boat. These investments will generate extra revenue for you. They will also help create a positive experience for your guests. All centered around your brand and their stay with you.

Every Experience Matters

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These recommendations focus on increasing your revenue or providing a great guest experience. But the best piece of advice is to focus on the guest experience. If you do, your revenue will increase. A bad experience gets talked about, but a great brand gets shared again and again.

Experience > Everything

If you focus on providing your guests with the best experience possible every time. Your business and brand, and revenue will grow.

Start creating a better guest experience for your guests.

Book a demo to try out DACKs all-in-one guest management platform.

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