Airbnb goes local with new Toronto Trips

New service allows people to tour world’s neighbourhoods

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Airbnb will begin offering foodie tours of Greektown as Toronto becomes the first Canadian city to be part of the company’s new experiential Trips travel service Friday.

Trips, which has launched in 13 cities since November, is about connecting travellers and “expert” hosts, who guide visitors through an authentic, local taste of their destination, said Andrea La Mesa, Airbnb’s San Francisco-based director of Trips. “You get access to neighbourhoods but also to people,” he said.

La Mesa, who was visiting Toronto for the second time, called Trips “the most significant development for Airbnb since we started, because for the first time we’re moving beyond homes and embracing the entire trip.”

“We believe cities have so much to offer, especially in neighbourhoods that are off the beaten path and are hard for travellers to discover,” he said.

“We believe cities have so much to offer, especially in neighbourhoods that are off the beaten path and are hard for travellers to discover" ANDREA LA MESA DIRECTOR OF AIRBNB ’TRIPS’

The expansion of its mission comes as Airbnb prepares for an initial public offering, although there’s no clear timeline when that might happen, according to a November report in the New York Times.

It noted that Airbnb has also deescalated its earlier confrontational approach with cities trying to limit short-term rentals, agreeing to rules in London and Amsterdam, and dropping a lawsuit against New York City.

Trips works off the Airbnb app and doesn’t require the user to book Airbnb accommodation, so locals can consider booking an experience too.

In other cities, travellers — and locals — are already choosing among hundreds of experiences, from truffle hunting in Florence and urban gardening in Los Angeles to touring the “True Townships” of Cape Town.

Toronto Trips will launch with about 10 Toronto experiences offered on the Airbnb app. Company officials provided few details in advance, but La Mesa said that one experience is a hidden robotics lab that will appeal to people interested in technology and innovation. Another is a fashion tour that starts in the expert host’s Parkdale boutique.

Expert hosts undergo background checks and where applicable, for more active or equipment-based activities such as bungee jumping, they must also prove they meet licensing and insurance requirements.

Hosts design and price the experiences that they list and Airbnb takes 20 per cent of the fee.

Food tours are most in demand, La Mesa said, citing his own experience of meeting a host’s friends and a chef in Hong Kong as part of “an amazing sushi dinner.”

Toronto food blogger and photographer Jim Bamboulis, 40, wants to show travellers — and locals — a different side of the Danforth.

Becoming an Airbnb expert coincided with an idea he was already incubating to lead people through the city’s Greek experience, he said.

“Greektown is overwhelming when it comes to restaurants and it seems to be serving up the same type of meals. I want to filter through the masses and show you two or three or four places to go for authentic experiences,” said Bamboulis, a first-generation Greek Canadian, who recently returned from the Greek island of Crete.

“Having a Greek mom, it was always about being fed. It doesn’t matter how well you’re doing in life as long as you’re fed. There’s a lot of passion with food in my own past,” he said.

His two-hour tour of Danforth Ave. will include a location participants will recognize from the filming of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. But food will be the main event. He will be encouraging groups of about six visitors to try three restaurants they might not otherwise attempt.

“I want to filter through the masses and show you two or three or four places to go for authentic experiences.” JIM BAMBOULIS GREEKTOWN TOUR GUIDE ON AIRBNB

Although there will be something for everyone on the menu, Bamboulis hopes he will entice people to look past the souvlaki at specialties that may be less familiar, such as moussaka and pasticcio.

“Moussaka gets a lot of publicity, but I don’t know if a lot of people would order it,” he said.

For $45, including the cost of food, participants will start their experience near the Bloor St. viaduct before a cup of Greek coffee and a little fortune telling at Village Pie. They will stop at Alexander the Great Square at Logan Ave. for a little history and carry on for lunch at Souv Like.

The last stop is dessert at Serano bakery where, “as soon as you open the door, you’re hit by aroma,” Bamboulis said.