Airbnb Experiences are activities, tours, and workshops listed directly on Airbnb — but they’re not the same as booking a standard guided tour or signing up for a class through a local events page.

To list on Airbnb Experiences, hosts need to demonstrate unique expertise, offer guests something they wouldn’t easily find on their own, and create a real connection between host and guest. Think: a pasta-making class taught by someone whose family has been doing it for generations, or a food tour led by a local guide who knows every market vendor personally.

The programme was paused for a period and relaunched in 2025 with a higher bar — Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky made clear they want Experiences that are unique to Airbnb, not activities guests could find anywhere else. That makes it a more selective programme than before, but also more valuable to be part of.

For established tour operators and activity businesses, it’s an additional sales channel with access to Airbnb’s global audience. For individuals with deep local knowledge, a specialist skill, or a connection to local culture worth sharing, it’s a way to turn that expertise into a bookable product.

So we put together this guide to help you get started as an Airbnb Experience host. It covers:

Get started in Bókun with our 14-day free trial — no credit card required!

How to enrol in Airbnb Experiences

1. Review quality standards & Airbnb Experience host requirements

Applying for Airbnb’s Experiences is simple, but before signing up, review its quality standards and requirements to understand the criteria and ensure compliance.

The key takeaway is that Airbnb requires Experiences to meet its three pillars of quality — expertise, insider access, and connection — ensuring premium, memorable experiences for users.

  • Expertise: This is the real filter. Airbnb wants hosts who have demonstrable authority in what they’re offering, not just an interest in it. That means one of: a minimum of five years’ hands-on experience in the field, multi-generational or family knowledge of the craft or culture, or documented media coverage that establishes you as a recognised voice in your area. A food tour operator who has spent a decade building relationships with local producers qualifies. Someone who visited a few markets last summer probably doesn’t.
  • Insider access: The Experience should give guests something they couldn’t easily recreate on their own. That could be access to places, people, or knowledge that isn’t publicly available — a winemaker who opens their cellar, a craftsperson who shares techniques passed down through their family, or a neighbourhood food crawl that goes well beyond what any tourist map would suggest.
  • Connection: Experiences are host-led and participatory. Airbnb isn’t looking for passive tours where guests watch from a distance — they want meaningful interaction between host and guest. The experience should feel personal, not like a group being herded through a checklist.

Beyond the three pillars, there are a few other requirements to meet before you can go live:

  • Verify your identity: All hosts must complete Airbnb’s identity verification process before you can publish an Experience. Co-hosts are required to do this too.
  • Obtain any required licences and permits: Depending on your activity type and location, local regulations may require specific licences, certifications, or permits. Activities involving food, alcohol, transport, or specialist equipment are the most common examples.
  • Maintain appropriate liability insurance: Airbnb requires Experience hosts to carry suitable business insurance. Requirements vary by activity and location, so check what applies to you.
  • Have a safety and emergency plan: Airbnb expects hosts to identify potential hazards, communicate any physical requirements to guests upfront, and have a plan in place if something goes wrong. This is especially important for outdoor or physically demanding Experiences.

Individual hosts and business hosts are both welcome on the platform. If you’re listing as a business, Airbnb holds you responsible for ensuring anyone leading sessions is properly trained, licensed, and meets the same standards expected of individual hosts.

Types of approved Airbnb Experiences

Airbnb Experiences fall into five categories:

  • Food & Drink:Food tours, cooking classes, tastings, dining experiences
  • History & Culture: Landmark tours, museum tours, cultural tours, welcome experiences
  • Nature & Outdoors: Outdoor experiences, water sports, wildlife expeditions, flying experiences
  • Art & Design: Gallery tours, art workshops, architecture tours, shopping & fashion
  • Fitness & Wellness: Workouts, wellness classes, beauty experiences

What kind of Experiences are not allowed?

Airbnb distinguishes between prohibited and restricted activities. Prohibited activities cannot be listed, while restricted activities may be allowed only when the host, activity, and listing meet specific safety, licensing, insurance, or disclosure requirements.

Under Airbnb’s prohibited activities policy and broader community policies, examples of prohibited Experiences include:

  • Illegal or drug-related activities. This includes drug distribution (even where legal), activities violating local laws, and unauthorised business operations.
  • High-risk or potentially dangerous activities. These include bungee jumping, cliff diving, skydiving, sky-swinging, wing suiting, and kitesurfing.
  • Activities involving the sale of weapons or munitions.
  • Any discriminatory activities, such as Experiences that exclude guests based on protected characteristics like race, gender, or religion.
  • Activities that violate Airbnb’s animal-welfare guidelines. This includes elephant interactions, direct contact with big cats, wild animal performances, dog sled racing, activities involving captive marine mammals, and sports that harm or overwork animals.
  • Explicit or commercial adult activities. Airbnb prohibits explicit content, commercial adult services, and similar offerings, even where legal.
  • Political activities. This includes direct campaigning, fundraising, and political demonstrations.
  • Experiences using unauthorised content (e.g., copyrighted music, videos, or materials without proper licensing or permission).

2. Create an account

Register your interest with Airbnb throughthis link.

3. Build your listings

  • Give your Experience a compelling title. Airbnb recommends leading with a verb that tells guests exactly what they’ll do — “explore,” “discover,” “taste.” For example, if you offer kayak tours with optional wine afterwards, “Kayak the Coast at Sunset with Wine Tasting” works harder than the plain “Sunset Kayak Tour.” It sets expectations immediately and gives guests a reason to click.
  • Write a detailed, engaging description. Start with an attention-grabbing hook, use sensory language, and emphasise what makes your Experience special. This is also where you highlight your expertise — share a bit of your background, explain why you’re the right person to lead this, and tell guests what makes the location worth visiting.
  • Build out your itinerary. Airbnb requires at least three agenda items outlined from start to finish, so guests can decide whether the Experience is a good fit before they book. Be specific: where guests meet, what happens first, each activity or stop along the way, and how it ends.
  • Showcase high-quality photos. Submit at least five high-quality, colour photos — a mix of the host in action, guests participating, and the setting itself. Include one photo for each item on your itinerary, so guests can picture exactly what they’re signing up for.
  • Add your schedule and availability. Open time slots you can commit to consistently and keep your calendar current. Greater availability can improve visibility by making your Experience more likely to match guests’ travel dates.

    Pro tip: Think carefully about your maximum group size. Smaller, more intimate groups — say, six to ten guests — tend to work best for workshops, food experiences, and anything requiring hands-on instruction. Larger groups suit sightseeing and walking tours where individual attention isn’t central. Whatever you choose, also consider offering private group bookings for families or special occasions — it opens up a different segment of demand and often commands a higher price per head.

  • Set guest requirements. Use Airbnb’s listing tools to specify any requirements guests must meet before booking — minimum age, fitness level, skill requirements, or any equipment they need to bring. Setting these upfront prevents guests from booking an Experience that isn’t right for them.
  • Set strategic pricing. Research comparable Experiences in your destination and factor in all your costs — materials, transport, staffing, and Airbnb’s service fee. Many operators start with a competitive introductory rate to build early reviews, then adjust as demand grows. Seasonal pricing and last-minute discounts can help fill gaps during slower periods.

After you submit your listing, Airbnb will review it and get in touch within several days. They may come back with suggested changes, ask for proof of licences, or request insurance documentation before giving the go-ahead.

How much can you earn as an Airbnb Experience host?

Airbnb lets hosts set their own prices, so earnings vary widely by destination, activity type, group size, and demand.

A cooking class for eight guests priced at $80 per person brings in $640 before fees. Scale that across multiple sessions a week, and it adds up to a meaningful revenue stream, particularly for operators who are already running the activity through other channels.

Airbnb deducts a 20% service fee from every booking payout. That’s broadly in line with what other OTAs like Viator and GetYourGuide charge, so if you’re already selling through those platforms, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Payouts are typically issued the day after you host an Experience, though the exact timing depends on your payout method and bank processing times.

It’s also worth familiarising yourself with Airbnb’s cancellation policy for Experiences.

The standard policy gives guests a full refund if they cancel at least 24 hours before the Experience starts. For some Experience types, hosts can opt for a three-day cancellation window instead.

Host cancellations are treated more strictly — repeated cancellations can affect your standing on the platform, so only open availability you can reliably commit to.

How to promote your Experiences & earn more bookings

Deliver Experiences worth reviewing

Ratings and reviews play a major role in Airbnb bookings. Higher-rated Experiences tend to earn more visibility and traveller trust, while a strong track record of five-star reviews can help a listing stand out from newer competitors. Everything in this section ultimately supports that goal.

The foundation is straightforward: your Experience needs to deliver what the listing promises and feel worth the price. Beyond that, a few things move the needle:

  • Create photo-worthy moments. Choose visually distinctive locations and build natural opportunities for guests to take photos during the Experience. Encourage guests to post and tag you — it extends your reach every time someone shares.
  • Add personal touches. Greet guests warmly, consider a small welcome gesture like a snack or drink on arrival, and send a thank-you follow-up after. It’s a natural moment to invite them back, offer a return discount, or ask for a review.
  • Plan for the unexpected. Have a backup plan for bad weather, and for physical Experiences like hiking or kayaking, make sure you can accommodate different ability levels so no guest feels left behind.
  • End on a high note. A memorable closing moment — a small takeaway, a story, a toast — is what guests talk about and what prompts them to leave a review.

Use Airbnb’s built-in visibility tools

Airbnb can surface Experiences throughout the guest journey, including in search results, planning recommendations, emails, notifications, and itinerary suggestions during a trip.

Airbnb rewards active, reliable hosts with better visibility. Here are a few things to focus on:

  • Enable Instant Book. Instant Book listings may rank higher, and removing the need for host approval makes booking easier for last-minute travellers.
  • Keep your calendar current. Accurate availability helps your Experience match guests’ travel dates and avoids disappointing potential customers.
  • Respond to enquiries promptly. Airbnb considers response speed for listings that aren’t instantly bookable, so timely replies can support visibility.
  • Keep your listing complete. Quality photos, a detailed description, and a clear itinerary all factor into how Airbnb ranks your Experience in search.

Build referral partnerships beyond Airbnb

Airbnb’s algorithm does a lot of the work, but local referral partnerships can put you in front of guests before they’ve even started searching. The advantage is discoverability — these are people already talking to your potential guests daily.

Here are some of the most useful relationships to build:

  • Hotels and accommodation providers. Concierge staff and front desk teams are asked daily for local recommendations. An in-person introduction and a leave-behind card can get you on that shortlist.
  • Vacation rental managers. VR managers are already curating local recommendations for their guests. Getting on their list is low-effort and can deliver steady referrals.
  • Complementary operators. A food tour guide and a cooking school, a kayak rental and a waterfront restaurant — cross-referrals between non-competing businesses work well in tight tourism markets where everyone benefits from keeping visitors engaged.
  • Local travel creators. Offering a hosted Experience to a relevant local creator can generate organic social content and reach a targeted audience. It’s a lower-lift option than a formal influencer campaign and often more authentic.

Bókun’s integration with Airbnb

Bókun has integrated with Airbnb to help simplify booking management for your approved Experiences.

If you’re selling across multiple channels — your own website, Viator, GetYourGuide, partner sites — keeping availability accurate everywhere manually is a real headache. Airbnb even recommends reserving your Airbnb time slots exclusively for Airbnb guests when you’re cross-listing on other platforms, which is easy to say and harder to actually manage without the right system in place.

With the Bókun and Airbnb integration, you can connect your Bókun booking system with Airbnb and manage reservations from all your sales channels in one place. New bookings from Airbnb are automatically routed into your Bókun calendar, and availability syncs back to Airbnb in real time.

The integration delivers best-in-class API performance and seamless synchronisation between Bókun and Airbnb —no more wasting time copying reservations or correcting overbookings!

To get set up, navigate to the Sales Tools tab or Marketplace in Bókun, select Airbnb from the list of partners, and follow the prompts to link the platforms.

The integration also makes reporting more useful. Rather than looking at Airbnb performance in isolation, you can pull together booking and revenue data from all your sales channels in one place — by channel, product, and time of year — to get a clearer picture of where your business is actually growing.

Worth noting: Tripadvisor Group and Airbnb recently announced a partnership that will make a selection of Tripadvisor Group experiences bookable on Airbnb. As a Tripadvisor brand and preferred Viator partner, Bókun operators could benefit from this additional distribution path once the partnership launches later this year.

And the Airbnb integration is just one piece of what Bókun offers. Here’s a look at the bigger picture.

Getting started with Bókun & Airbnb

Bókun provides top-rated booking management software for tour and travel experience providers. Our all-in-one tour operator software includes a complete range of features to manage operations.

Beyond booking and availability management, Bókun includes channel management, access to the Bókun Marketplace (our partner network, with thousands of travel businesses), Referral Tracking to build your own affiliate network, resource management, CRM, business intelligence reporting, and more.

We’re a Tripadvisor brand and partner with various OTAs beyond Airbnb: we’re a preferred Viator partner, GetYourGuide premium connectivity partner, and Google Things to do partner,offering our customers special benefits when expanding their online presence.

We work with thousands of tour operators and activity businesses across 85 countries, offering scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes. We’ve helped small teams digitise their business, increase direct bookings, and explore online sales channels — and we provide more personalised consulting for our enterprise users to explore tailored growth plans.

See how these teams have grown with Bókun:

You can also check out Bókun reviews to learn why customers rate us 4.7 stars.

See how Bókun can transform your business with a 14-day free trial of our tour operator software — no credit card required!

Airbnb Experiences isn’t your only opportunity to promote your travel experiences to global audiences. We put together these guides so you can learn more about the most popular OTAs and online marketplaces and start selling across those sites: