【Scarlett Fay Archives】

Airbnb's ambition to become your travel agent just got an Australian boost.

On Tuesday,Scarlett Fay Archives the company officially launched Trips in Sydney. First announced at the Airbnb Open conference in Los Angeles in late 2016, the new platform allows local "Experiences" to be offered to travellers as well as accommodation.

SEE ALSO: Airbnb's on a problematic world tour to make your landlord like them

In Sydney for the launch, Airbnb' vice president of product Joseph Zadeh said he'd had the chance to sample some of the local activities available. He tried a surf outing with big wave legend Mark Matthews, along with a behind-the-scenes dinner and show at the Sydney Opera House.

"It's a place where obviously lots of tourists visit, they sort of check it of their list," he said. "But for our approach, we worked with the Opera House to create something unique ... for Airbnb travellers and locals."

With around 800 experiences now on offer globally, Trips is launching in Sydney with more than 20 different options. There are also 34 Sydney Guidebooks on the site with local tips on what to do.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

So will Trips work Down Under? After all, many overseas visitors to the country head for locations outside Airbnb's key markets of Sydney and Melbourne — the Great Barrier Reef or Uluru, for example.

With that in mind, Zadeh said to keep an eye out for longer experiences on the platform. "In San Francisco, we have lots of experiences in the wine country, which is like an hour out of the town," he said, by way of example. "Day trips are a huge thing for travelers and locals, and we'll do the same thing in Sydney."

Of course, as in other markets, Airbnb has been facing some pushback locally over its effect on housing affordability. Trips could help convince local regulators it's a new kind of travel company, rather than just a new type of hotel or landlord as its critics suggest.

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"Going out and experiencing a city is pretty easy for most people to understand, whereas maybe with homes, at first there was a little bit of a, 'what, you're going to stay in someone's home?'" Zadeh said.

"When we work with government and show them the kind of income we can bring to their citizens, they often get pretty excited."

Trips also adds a new way for Airbnb itself to make money. When a user pays for an experience on the platform, Airbnb takes a percentage of the host's profit — about 20 percent, according to Zadeh.

Airbnb offers price guidance, but ultimately the host decides how much to charge for the experience on offer. "We have everything from A$25 ($19.06) to A$250 ($190.61). it really depends on what you're offering," he said.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Ultimately, he suggested, Trips expands the reach and footprint of Airbnb, hopefully pleasing Airbnb users as well as investors.

Launching in November with 12 U.S. cities, Zadeh said the company is planning to expand to 50 cities in 2017.

Trips is perhaps Airbnb's move significant shift since it was founded in 2008 as part of the so-called sharing economy. Zadeh happens to be Airbnb's ninth-ever employee, so he's seen the company change in recent years.

"Back then, we only thought about providing a place to stay, and now we think about the entire journey," he said. "Several years ago, we believed that Airbnb should expand to offer the entire trip from where you stay, which we'd done before, to what you do, which is what Experiences are, and even how you get there, which is down the road."

He wouldn't expand on the "how you get there piece," which might see Airbnb take on travel booking sites like Kayak or Skyscanner, but maintained it's in the works.

"If you think about travel as an industry, not just homes but spending money in market, it's a really big industry and accommodation is only one small part of that," Zadeh said. "Instead of just offering a place to stay, now we're finding a way to have people spend money in-market on the platform."

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Topics Airbnb