Experience the Life of a Bostonian through Airbnb

Airbnb isn’t just about lodging in the Bay State anymore. Through the travel website, users can now book excursions that include sailing, shucking oysters, hiking, cooking lobsters, and flying a hot-air balloon. You know, your typical Boston summer activities. The company’s “Airbnb Experiences,” a marketplace of activities created and hosted by local community members, debuted in Massachusetts on April 30. The activities span a dozen different categories that include food and drink, nature, entertainment, and history. The program launched worldwide in 2016, but Massachusetts is the first New England state to offer it. Bring on the tourists!

Through Airbnb Experiences, you can stand-up paddleboard in Marblehead with Maryellen, an “outdoor recreation enthusiast.” You can join Carlos, a freelance photographer, on a professional photo shoot of historic spots around Boston. Learn to fly a hot-air balloon with a pilot named Jordan in Great Barrington, or shuck oysters on the docks of East Boston with Alexis, a Boston native and founder of a “secret supper club.” If you prefer lobsters to oysters, you can get them straight from a lobster boat, then cook and eat them with Jennifer and Keith, a married couple in Quincy. Boston, city of champions? More like city of hospitality!

Airbnb Experiences has grown from 500 experiences in 12 cities worldwide to 9,000 experiences in 70 cities since its inception. It will expand to 1,000 cities worldwide this year, including 200 more American cities. Boston is part of that expansion.

Small businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit organizations submit experience ideas to Airbnb for approval and set their own prices. Since the program began in 2016, the company has received 55,000 requests worldwide to host experiences, and 9,000 have been approved. Requests must meet the company’s high quality standards, which include being friendly and hospitable, displaying expertise, and giving guests insider access. The excursion should also offer Airbnb users something different from a typical tourist attraction.

Airbnb earns a 20 percent commission on each experience, with the exception of the “social impact” experiences hosted by nonprofit organizations. In those instances, the nonprofits earn 100 percent of the profit. For example, when you opt for a two-hour sail on the Boston Harbor for $35 per person, the money you spend will help provide summer programming to nearly 1,000 children at Courageous Sailing Center for Youth, Inc. Choose a 90-minute violin or cello lesson for $30 per person to benefit the Boston String Academy, a nonprofit organization that offers an after-school string program to inner-city students.

The benefits of booking an Airbnb Experiences are endless. Next time you're looking for something to do in and around Boston, consider planning your day with the help of Airbnb and devour the details of an experience unlike any other!