Airbnb Experiences are activities, tours, and workshops listed directly on Airbnb \u2014 but they’re not the same as booking a standard guided tour or signing up for a class through a local events page.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The programme was paused for a period and relaunched in 2025 with a higher bar \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
So we put together this guide to help you get started as an Airbnb Experience host. It covers:<\/p>\n
Get started in B\u00f3kun with our <\/em>14-day free trial<\/em><\/a> \u2014 no credit card required!<\/em><\/p>\n Applying for Airbnb\u2019s Experiences is simple, but before signing up, review its<\/strong> quality standards and requirements<\/strong><\/a> to understand the criteria and ensure compliance.<\/p>\n The key takeaway is that Airbnb requires Experiences to meet its three pillars of quality<\/strong> \u2014 expertise, insider access, and connection \u2014 ensuring premium, memorable experiences for users.<\/p>\n Beyond the three pillars, there are a few other requirements to meet before you can go live:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Airbnb Experiences fall into five categories:<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Under Airbnb\u2019s prohibited activities policy<\/a> and broader community policies, examples of prohibited Experiences include:<\/p>\n Register your interest with Airbnb throughthis link<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> Think carefully about your maximum group size. Smaller, more intimate groups \u2014 say, six to ten guests \u2014 tend to work best for workshops<\/a>, food experiences, and anything requiring hands-on instruction. Larger groups suit sightseeing<\/a> and walking tours<\/a> where individual attention isn’t central. Whatever you choose, also consider offering private group bookings for families or special occasions \u2014 it opens up a different segment of demand and often commands a higher price per head.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 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.<\/p>\n Airbnb lets hosts set their own prices, so earnings vary widely by destination, activity type, group size, and demand.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Airbnb deducts a 20% service fee from every booking payout<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n Payouts are typically issued the day after <\/strong>you host an Experience, though the exact timing depends on your payout method and bank processing times.<\/p>\n It’s also worth familiarising yourself with Airbnb’s cancellation policy for Experiences<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Host cancellations are treated more strictly \u2014 repeated cancellations can affect your standing on the platform, so only open availability you can reliably commit to.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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:<\/p>\n Airbnb can surface Experiences throughout the guest journey, including in search results, planning recommendations, emails, notifications, and itinerary suggestions during a trip.<\/p>\n Airbnb rewards active, reliable hosts with better visibility. Here are a few things to focus on:<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 these are people already talking to your potential guests daily.<\/p>\n Here are some of the most useful relationships to build:<\/p>\n B\u00f3kun has integrated with Airbnb to help simplify booking management<\/strong> for your approved Experiences.<\/p>\n If you’re selling across multiple channels \u2014 your own website, Viator, GetYourGuide, partner sites \u2014 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.<\/p>\n With the B\u00f3kun and Airbnb integration, you can connect your B\u00f3kun booking system with Airbnb and manage reservations from all your sales channels in one place. New bookings from Airbnb are automatically routed into your B\u00f3kun calendar, and availability syncs back to Airbnb in real time.<\/p>\n The integration delivers best-in-class API performance and seamless synchronisation between B\u00f3kun and Airbnb \u2014no more wasting time copying reservations or correcting overbookings!<\/p>\n To get set up, navigate to the Sales Tools tab or Marketplace in B\u00f3kun, select Airbnb from the list of partners, and follow the prompts to link the platforms.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 by channel, product, and time of year \u2014 to get a clearer picture of where your business is actually growing.<\/p>\n Worth noting:<\/strong> 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, B\u00f3kun operators could benefit from this additional distribution path once the partnership launches later this year.<\/p>\n And the Airbnb integration is just one piece of what B\u00f3kun offers. Here’s a look at the bigger picture.<\/p>\n B\u00f3kun provides top-rated booking management software<\/strong> for tour and travel experience providers. Our all-in-one tour operator software<\/a> includes a complete range of features to manage operations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Beyond booking and availability management, B\u00f3kun includes channel management<\/a>, access to the B\u00f3kun Marketplace<\/a> (our partner network, with thousands of travel businesses), Referral Tracking<\/a> to build your own affiliate network<\/a>, resource management<\/a>, CRM<\/a>, business intelligence reporting, and more.<\/p>\n We\u2019re a Tripadvisor brand<\/strong><\/a> and partner with various OTAs beyond Airbnb: we\u2019re a preferred Viator partner<\/a>, GetYourGuide premium connectivity partner<\/a>, and Google Things to do partner<\/a>,offering our customers special benefits when expanding their online presence.<\/p>\n We work with thousands of tour operators and activity businesses across 85 countries, offering scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes. We\u2019ve helped small teams digitise their business<\/a>, increase direct bookings<\/a>, and explore online sales channels<\/a> \u2014 and we provide more personalised consulting for our enterprise users to explore tailored growth plans.<\/p>\n See how these teams have grown with B\u00f3kun:<\/p>\n You can also <\/em>check out B\u00f3kun reviews<\/em><\/a> to learn why customers rate us <\/em>4.7 stars<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n See how B\u00f3kun can transform your business with a 14-day free trial<\/strong><\/a> of our tour operator software \u2014 no credit card required!<\/p>\n Airbnb Experiences isn\u2019t your only opportunity to promote your travel experiences to global audiences. <\/strong>We put together these guides so you can learn more about the most popular OTAs and online marketplaces and start selling across those sites:<\/p>\n Airbnb Experiences are activities, tours, and workshops listed directly on Airbnb \u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,37,40,38,39],"tags":[347,345,346,344],"class_list":["post-4342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-channel-management","category-grow-your-bookings","category-increase-revenue","category-otas-and-resellers","category-streamline-operations","tag-airbnb","tag-airbnb-and-bokun-integration","tag-airbnb-experiences","tag-airbnb-experiences-host"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to enrol in Airbnb Experiences<\/h2>\n
1. Review quality standards & Airbnb Experience host requirements<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Types of approved Airbnb Experiences<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
What kind of Experiences are not allowed?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
2. Create an account<\/h3>\n
3. Build your listings<\/h3>\n
\n
How much can you earn as an Airbnb Experience host?<\/h2>\n
How to promote your Experiences & earn more bookings<\/h2>\n
Deliver Experiences worth reviewing<\/h3>\n
\n
Use Airbnb’s built-in visibility tools<\/h3>\n
\n
Build referral partnerships beyond Airbnb<\/h3>\n
\n
B\u00f3kun\u2019s integration with Airbnb<\/h2>\n
Getting started with B\u00f3kun & Airbnb<\/h2>\n
\n
\n