COVID-19 has had a profound impact on travel in 2020. As we look to 2021, we believe these impacts will continue to be felt in a number of ways. Firstly, continued remote working, and in some cases remote schooling, will upend traditional vacation seasons and blur the lines between working and traveling. Secondly, safety and cleanliness will cont,nue to be top of mind for travelers, driving a preference for private, entire homes over crowded hotels. Thirdly, international travel, especially long haul, will continue to be impacted and finally, having been isolated for much of 2020, people will want to use travel to reconnect with friends and family in safe and controlled ways.

In 2021, travel will continue to be less about tourism and more about living, working and connecting safely away from home. Airbnb is ideally suited to meet these changing needs, whether providing an entire home to take a break from the city, to reconnect with loved ones or to try out a new neighborhood to move to. And its platform allows anyone with space to share to tap into these trends and earn some extra needed income. Based on commissioned survey data of US travelers and an analysis of search and booking data for next year, Airbnb is revealing the top trends redefining travel in 2021.

One of the ways travelers are taking advantage of this trend is trying before they buy-turning to Airbnb to test new neighborhoods and cities before making a long-term commitment. From July to September this year, there has been a 128 percent increase in guest reviews mentioning "relocation", "relocate", "remote work" and "trying a new neighborhood" in comparison to the same time frame last year.

Of folks who have relocated since the pandemic was declared, 24 percent of them say they moved to a suburb and 21 percent to a rural area, both greater percentages than those who say they moved to cities.* And on Airbnb, people who have the opportunity to work from anywhere are actively booking longer stays (2+ week trips) in small-to-mid-size cities with access to immersive natural surroundings and wide open spaces.

As uncertainty persists, domestic travel will continue to be a key trend in 2021, with 62 percent of people interested in taking a vacation within driving distance of home.* Looking back at September 2019 for trip planning in 2020, for US guests, cities like Paris, London and Rome were all top destinations.

Nearby stays see a rise in

activity. Guests continue to search for nearby stays that are a drive away from metro cities, to explore a slower pace of life for holidays or for inspiration. Travellers are searching for destinations such as Gokarna, Shimla, Mussoorie, Kasauli and Alibag where they can spend time with family and friends. Guests are increasingly looking at rediscovering the magic in their own backyards.

Learn More

Airbnb announces the launch of Online Experiences, a new way for people to connect, travel virtually and earn income during the COVID-19 crisis. With communities around the world staying home to protect their own health and the health of others, people can’t pursue routine activities like going to work, exercising or pursuing a passion. Now, Online Experiences will change that by allowing hosts to earn an income in these uncertain times, and bring their transformative virtual Experience to millions of guests.

Airbnb Experiences offers an array of options like meditation with Buddhist monks, virtual visits with the dogs of Chernobyl, cooking with a Moroccan family, and more. Online Experiences unlocks unprecedented access to inspiring hosts from more than 30 different countries, including Olympic medalists Alistair Brownlee and Lauren Gibbs. Whether a HIIT workout, learning about nutrition with a Bobsledder or a virtual bike tour, guests can now connect with some of the most celebrated athletes in the world from the comforts of their own living room.

“Human connection is at the core of what we do,” says Catherine Powell, Head of Airbnb Experiences. “With so many people needing to stay indoors to protect their health, we want to provide an opportunity for our hosts to connect with our global community of guests in the only way possible right now, online.”

To help those who are most isolated, like older adults, Airbnb has partnered with local organizations around the world to curate Experiences for their communities to be able to learn a new skill while protecting their health.

“Millions of elders aren’t able to go outside and risk their health due to the current crisis, and need activities to help them stay connected to the world around them,” says Michael Adams, SAGE CEO.

“Through our partnership with Airbnb, SAGE is able to give older members of LGBT communities across the country an opportunity to not only meet other people, but also learn a new hobby and travel to nearly anywhere around the world, all from the safety of their home. This is what partnership and connection is all about.”

Booking opens immediately with more than 50 virtual Airbnb Experiences available at airbnb.com/online-experiences, with thousands more coming online in the coming months. Online Experiences will be hosted on Zoom, and Airbnb is providing Hosts access to Zoom free of charge along with personalized support services for curating, capturing and sharing their Online Experience. For more information, if you are interested in hosting please visit airbnb.com/onlinehost.

Experiences originally were

launched in 2016. Airbnb Experiences are unique, memorable activities designed and hosted by locals that go beyond typical tours or workshops. They provide deep insights and immersion into the hosts’ passions and interests, and a different way to experience a destination. Online Experiences will be hosted on Zoom, and Airbnb is providing access to Zoom free of charge.

Learn More

Airbnb, like many businesses, had to pivot its priorities to meet the needs of travelers and hosts who had a new set of behaviors and constraints. I experienced this turning point when we kicked off a project to help hosts understand how to remain competitive during the pandemic, and to help keep their guests safe. A cleaning protocol was born. Not only was this work critical for the health and safety of our community, but host livelihoods – and our business –depended on it.

At Airbnb, I’ve worked on service delivery of complex operations, from the Real Estate team to Airbnb Plus, and I spent the years prior to Airbnb designing services across industries at IDEO. I value the complexity and constraints of systems challenges, but I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that the global shifts of 2020 have tested and stretched those skill sets.

For better or worse, COVID-19 has caused the world to reevaluate many of our core services, from getting groceries to designing the new office setup. As designers, we have the opportunity to proactively design services that meet a new (and evolving) set of needs, and deliver a meaningful experience along the way. Service design is a newer practice at Airbnb, and we’d like to share what we’ve learned so far. In a moment when it can feel like everyone is in reaction mode, here are a few tips on how to approach today’s service challenges with a designer’s mindset.

We’re in a moment of creative destruction to the “way things were.” Destruction can be challenging, but it also represents an opportunity to make things better for our businesses and our fellow humans. Remember that cleaning project I was

tasked with? By August 2020, more than a million hosts had committed to enhanced cleaning, and today we’ve launched a global process around cleanliness, along with education and partnerships to help hosts achieve this standard. What started as a set of challenging constraints has now evolved into a major differentiator for Airbnb – experts agree that Airbnb listings are safer than hotels during COVID-19.

So go forth and design the services and systems that will define and ease us into our new normal. As designers, it’s our job to keep people at the center, and maybe even deliver some support and care along the way.

COVID-19 responders were

helped with Airbnb Frontline stays. Chiara is a nurse in Italy who went to Rome during the height of the country’s crisis. She was surprised to see the city virtually empty. When she’d visited before, it was a chaotic city full of life—and now it was a ghost town. But she wasn’t there as a tourist—she had a critical role to play working at a hospital treating patients with COVID-19.

Learn More