Spare bedrooms just aren’t cutting it anymore for Airbnb $ABNB.
The home-and-room rental site this week announced it is buying Luxury Retreats, a Montreal-based site for luxury vacation homes with a concierge service. The deal is worth between $200 million and $300 million, a person familiar with the agreement told Quartz.
Luxury Retreats lists some 4,000 properties in 100 destinations worldwide, a drop in the bucket for eight-year-old Airbnb, which has 3 million listings in more than 65,000 cities. But what Luxury Retreats lacks in volume, it makes up for in price point.
For $80,000 a night, 33 of your closest friends can crash like a billionaire on Necker Island, which was developed by Richard Branson. All meals are included for guests in the nine houses at the 74-acre British Virgin Islands retreat.
For those traveling on more of a shoestring budget, Luxury Retreats also lists a 32,000-square-foot five-bedroom house in St. Barthélemy in the Caribbean. The house overlooks Lorient Bay, and fetches a $3,571 a night during the off season and up to $15,714 a night from mid-December to mid-January, always with a seven-night minimum. (Pool maintenance is included.) There’s also a seven-bedroom farmhouse outside of the Tuscan village of San Casciano that goes for $837 to $1,141 a night with a seven-night minimum.
Some of Luxury Retreats’ properties offer services like nightly turn-down service and welcome dinners, making the deal a significant shift for Airbnb, which has made money by standing on the sidelines while thousands of hosts and guests exchange little more than a few emails and a key.
Airbnb said Luxury Retreats will continue to operate as a standalone company for now, meaning guests will need to sign up for the two services separately.
The acquisition further cements Airbnb’s new identity as a full-service travel agency, a pivot that seems increasingly important as its core product faces legal challenges. The company has been on an expansion spree as its valuation rose to over $30 billion. Last year, corporate travel agencies American Express $AXP Global Business Travel, BCD Travel, and Carlson Wagonlit Travel started offering Airbnb listings to business travelers. In November, it unveiled Trips, its marketplace for everything outside of lodging: day trips hosted by locals, audio walking tours, and restaurant and concert-ticket booking. It also plans to start offering flight-booking on its site and has already teamed up with airline loyalty programs.
Airbnb isn’t alone in its quest for well-heeled travelers; even traditional competitors are getting into the game. Accor Hotels announced last week that it is acquiring luxury home rental company Travel Keys, which has 5,000 properties in 100 destinations.
