Dive Brief:

• Airbnb teamed up with animal-related mobile media brand The Dodo to introduce a new category of travel experiences. Airbnb Animal Experiences will be a destination for animal lovers to interact in personal ways with animals and their owners.
• For instance, hiking with Penni the dog, a popular animal on The Dodo, will be offered to people visiting Arizona. The dog's owner will lead a hike through a canyon to some hot springs while sharing the dog's therapy story.
• The Dodo and Airbnb will develop 95 different experiences based on the media brand's shows. The launch includes five experiences from the shows including: "Pittie Nation," "Odd Couples" and "Ruff Life with Lee Asher."

Dive Insight:

Expanding into animal experiences is a next step for Airbnb, which has been promoting experiences to its users who seek more than just a place to stay. Millennials, and millennial women in particular, crave experiences over products. Seventy-two percent of millennial women say spending on experiences makes them the happiest, according to a report called "Why Millennial Women Buy."

By teaming up with The Dodo, Airbnb can tap into a large audience, many of whom are millennials. The Dodo has almost 5 million subscribers — and has experienced triple-digit growth over the past two years. Last year, the property counted 33 million monthly views.

The partnership is the latest example of how Airbnb is leaning into travel experiences. In 2017, Airbnb partnered with Vice Media for custom travel packages that let fans of the publisher experience the exotic locations its reporters visit for stories, including South Africa, Paris and Tokyo. Earlier this year, Airbnb partnered with Pinterest on a travel guide for spring and summer that includes travel hacks and trends for different types of vacations. Pinterest found that natural travel is a top trend for 2019, with searches for "nature travel" up 88% on the platform, and Airbnb booking on nature-related trips up 539% year-over-year. Animal experiences qualify as another nature-related offering, as many of these experiences take customers outdoors.

As millennials seek more authentic travel experiences, Airbnb and The Dodo have the opportunity to curate offerings based on demand to drive an increase in traffic and bookings within the increasingly competitive hospitality market.