Airbnb partners with artists and films for Icons rentals

Doja Cat. Prince. Pixar’s Up. What do these things have in common?

At first glance, not a lot—but they’re all involved in Airbnb’s new Icons category, a collection of overnight stays and experiences that began to roll out at the beginning of the month.

As part of the promotion, the short-term rental company is offering users the opportunity to request to book experiences like staying at the house from Prince’s Purple Rain film, visiting a floating home similar to the one featured in Up, and attending a living-room concert from Doja Cat. Icons debuted with 11 experiences, with more to come throughout the summer.

Icons is the latest example of Airbnb using beloved intellectual property to help market its platform and get its user base engaged with experiences, efforts that could also stand to bolster the company’s profile and help differentiate it from competitors.

Win-win situation

The Purple Rain house will be available to book in August, and is expected to sell out “immediately,” Sam Sklover, director of marketing and brand partnerships at Primary Wave, a music publisher and management company that holds a significant stake in Prince’s estate, said. His role at the company is focused on building artist awareness through work with brands, film, and television; Primary Wave worked directly with Airbnb on the listing, and Airbnb is renovating the home for the promotion, he told us

The experience of booking an Icon listing, he said, is “almost like tickets to Taylor Swift, where you’ll go to book, and if you’re there first, hopefully you’ll get the thumbs up, or in this case, what they’re calling the golden ticket.” (When an Icon listing goes live, users can request to book it through the Airbnb app. Those who are selected will receive a “digital golden ticket.”)

In the case of Primary Wave, working with Airbnb is an effort to help support continued awareness and excitement around Prince and a way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain, Sklover said.

Conor Henderson, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Oregon Lundquist College of Business, said that brand partnerships with Airbnb, like the ones participating in Icons, tend to offer “more of a promotional benefit” than a monetary one. That seems to be the case for the Purple Rain house—according to Sklover, the home will be available to book for just $7, because seven was Prince’s favorite number.

For Airbnb, promotional efforts like Icons can bring in earned media, which can also be more valuable than the money earned through the rentals and experiences themselves, Henderson said.

The promotional benefits that can come with such arrangements may aid Airbnb as it continues to position itself as different than its competitors, Henderson said, including hospitality stalwarts like hotels that have seen something of a resurgence since the start of the pandemic.

“The basic story of Airbnb is them building the brand and building the position around these unique experiences that are more connected to the local and that has helped them gain ground on the Marriott,” Henderson said. “They make the Marriott look a little bit stale by contrast.”

Think outside the box

This isn’t the first time Airbnb has offered customers curated experiences based off of popular IP. Last year, it offered stays at Shrek’s Swamp in the Scottish Highlands and Barbie’s Malibu Dreamhouse. In 2021, users could book a night at a Winnie the Pooh-inspired listing called Bearbnb.

After navigating the pandemic, Airbnb has faced some recent business challenges, including customer complaints around the total cost of stays, and cities like New York cracking down on short-term rentals like those typically offered on Airbnb. However, the company is still pretty popular.

According to Airbnb’s Q1 earnings, it clocked $2.1 billion in revenue (18% YoY growth), and counted 133 million nights and experiences booked in that time period.