Airbnb To House Loyalty With MasterCard

It might look as though Airbnb is getting into the credit card game, but it’s more like the loyalty game.

The hospitality service provider is rumored, according to TechCrunch, to be working on the launch of the Experience Card, a prepaid MasterCard credit card, which will allow Airbnb guests to spend up to $1,000 while traveling.

The company, which earlier this month announced a partnership with Amex, has not made any public statements or responded to questions about the program yet. The Experience Card was discovered in a bizarre turn of events when Matteo Gamba — who runs a blog all about Airbnb — found a page on the company’s site that had apparently gone live by mistake. The page, which has since been taken down, described the card as part of a larger “Experiences” loyalty program, which connects users to crowdsourced recommendations for things to do in the areas they have booked travel for.

The Experience Card would also function as a loyalty card of sorts. Users earn back 10 percent of each card purchase as a credit towards future transactions on Airbnb. And, to sweeten the deal, the company also offers a map of recommendations from locals to help a user plan a trip.

For those who are traveling in the country where they live, the card provides another line of credit for their trip. However, the perks are potentially more beneficial for those traveling abroad, offering an alternative to paying their banks’ foreign exchange fees by using their own cards. At this point, it is unclear whether Airbnb would charge its own exchange fee or what rate it would use.

This foray into extending credit to its members, as the TechCrunch story points out, would be in line with Airbnb’s general strategy of adding a more robust suite of services to its offerings in an attempt to gain more customer loyalty. In 2015 Airbnb raised $1.5 billion on a $25.5 billion valuation and has been looking to expand its platform beyond the initial ability to look for and book accommodations. Some of its earlier efforts have included hyperlocal travel guides and Local Lounges, which enlist local businesses to help “welcome” visitors with offers and deals.

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