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Airbnb is considering buying Canada’s Luxury Retreats International to move deeper into luxury markets, putting the homesharing behemoth in direct competition with online travel agencies like Expedia and Priceline.
The sale would cost Airbnb about $300M and, considering Luxury Retreats operates over 4,000 properties globally, this would be the firm’s largest acquisition to date, Bloomberg reports. People familiar with the matter said Airbnb’s board of directors will vote on the deal this week.
The move would help grow Airbnb’s new tourism services business, which offers local excursions like mushroom hunting and truffle tastings and is more likely to appeal to wealthy guests. Airbnb certainly has the cash to seal the deal — the firm still has most of the $3.1B it raised in funding and may feel confident making the move after becoming profitable for the first time last year.
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