Is Airbnb yearning for the dependability of Bricks and Mortar?

There was an intriguing announcement earlier this week that Airbnb was launching a major new initiative to design and build a new generation of millennial ready houses.

It is clear that with the intelligence they have at their finger tips on what delights their millions of guests and what makes hosts most successful they should be well placed to rethink the perfect dwelling.

Clearly enabling these new consumer spaces to be easy to list, rent, protect, clean, cohabit, etc will support the ongoing Airbnb ecosystem and their primary income stream.

But alongside this obvious synergy it seems more intriguing to see how this serves to diversify the business away from the core, fast growing, but vulnerable business of being an intermediary.

Converting some of the substantial shareholder value that has been created into a more tangible asset base may well help to both build out the ecosystem but also secure future income against the threat of future disruptors.

Fixing the roof while the sun’s shining is always a smart move – perhaps redesigning the whole house at the same time is even smarter!