Home-rental platform Airbnb is said to be branching out into flight booking services, which would put the firm in competition with travel rivals such as Priceline and Expedia, according to reports.
The California-based company is in early development of a service for booking air travel – known within the company as ‘Flights’ – and is considering various routes into the business, a
Toronto Star report said.
Airbnb is hoping to get the project going before pushing forward with an IPO, which is expected in the next 18 months, the report said, but Nick Papas, a spokesperson for Airbnb, declined to comment on the plans for an air travel service, and said the company doesn’t plan to go public in the near future.
The report claimed that the firm may acquire an online travel agency or licence data from a provider to support its plans, according to people familiar with the situation.
By offering air travel services, Airbnb would move into competition with market leaders Priceline and Expedia, which currently operate the largest flight booking websites.
The rental platform added Airbnb Trips last month, offering tours, restaurant reservations and other travel services.
It has previously said it wants to be a destination for planning entire vacations, rather than just for finding accommodation, the report said.
But Steve Hafner, chief executive officer of flight search website Kayak, said at a conference last month that many accommodation companies have tried unsuccessfully to break into flight search. “I’m not really worried about Airbnb getting into flights,” he said.
Airbnb, which was founded in 2008 and valued at $30 billion by investors this year, has been a controversial player in Canada, with critics accusing it of cutting into already strained rental markets.
It has also faced regulatory hurdles, and last month, Toronto made its
first zoning-conviction of an Airbnb user, after the company that owns a house where a shooting happened earlier this year pleaded guilty to a zoning bylaw regulation.
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