Airbnb Mulled Integrating Skyscanner for Flights and Buying Hopper
Photo Credit: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky spoke in December 2016 about the company's plans. In one slide, he had a flight icon image that hinted at the company's plans to enter the flight selling business. Airbnb
Skift Take
Airbnb has sold investors on a growth story based, in part, on adding flights and other products. But selling flights is extremely complicated.
Is Airbnb going to put some "air" into its business on the road to an initial public offering? Speculation has mounted since CEO Brian Chesky teased the project in late 2016.
The Information reported last week that Airbnb "held preliminary talks" to buy or integrate with Hopper, the mobile-only fare prediction and flight-booking app that secured a $61 million financing round in December 2016.
In a separate move a year ago, Airbnb had "a team working on a potential flight-booking integration with Skyscanner, which was eventually scrapped," The Information reported.
The differences between the buy versus partnership strategies highlight periodic tensions between Chesky and Airbnb CFO Laurence Tosi, who favored the tie-in with Skyscanner rather than seeking a flight-search acquisition, according to the report.
When contacted by Skift, representatives of Hopper and Ctrip's Skyscanner didn't deny the reports.
"As you know, travel is a pretty consolidated industry -- it's no
