Airbnb Trips to uncover hidden local travel experiences

Airbnb is moving on from the world of holiday accommodation. Check out the new feature the travel giant has launched.

Airbnb is offering new local experiences through the app, including a London Lycra running route. Picture: Supplied

Ever wanted to spend three days becoming an experimental artist on the streets of Paris, or lose a couple of days truffle hunting in Florence?

New additions to the Airbnb app launched today will let you search out hidden experiences that only the locals know about.

The update to the app is isn’t just a tweak, it’s a push into a new direction that sets the app against local tour operators.

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Tap into local experiences with Trip.

Not content with changing the way people find holiday accommodation, Airbnb hopes this will change what travellers do when they arrive at their destination.

With Trips, you can book an experience, from a guided running tour through Paris over three days to learning how to use a sword from a Samurai master.

You can search the experiences by location and add filters such as sports, food and drink, entertainment and history.

There are 500 experiences in 12 cities at launch.

Airbnb head Brian Chesky announced the changes in an event in Los Angeles today.

The Trips feature is available through an update to the app. So far, it offers about 500 experiences in 12 cities (including Paris, San Francisco, London, Los Angeles, Havana and Cape Town) with the aim to extend that to 50 destinations by the end of the year.

There’s a three-day surf and sleep under the stars experience in LA, three days of mountain biking in Cape Town or three days of kickboxing training in Paris.

Airbnb aims to have 50 destinations by the end of 2016.

For the user, it adds another welcomed element to the travel experience. For Airbnb, it puts the app against another tourism sector looking to protect its domain.

Other additions to the app include places, with tips from locals, and Airbnb has started a partnership with Detour to offer audio guided walks through the app. The selection of those so far is limited.

Chesky also previewed upcoming features including car rentals, flight bookings and even grocery deliveries, so that your holiday home is stocked with food when you get there.

The additions to the feature and expansion of the app come ahead of an IPO which is tipped to happen next year. Airbnb is valued at $30 billion.

Airbnb adds new Trips feature that allows people to book experiences, and eventually even flights, within the app.