Airbnb has boosted its technical chops by taking over Fondu, a Yelp-like social network app for iPhone once described as “Foursquare for foodies.”
Fondu will close down within a month as Airbnb brings on staff the 24-year-old cofounder, Gauri Manglik.
You can see Manglik describe her app in this May 2012 video. Fondu was a graduate of the Fueled Collective incubation space.*
Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. AllThingsD broke the story.
Expanding into local recommendations
In not necessarily unrelated news, Airbnb yesterday began surveying its New York City members for their recommendations on worthwhile things to do in the city to be compiled into a new service called Local Lists.
The company’s goal is to provide guests with tips on what to see when visiting a city, based on what sellers have recommended overall in the area.
Intriguingly, this is a print venture.
The goal is to print mini-guidebooks that could be handed out by Airbnb members to guests, with listings of vendors inside.
It’s a kind of cross-programming against Foursquare, Yelp, and other online discovery services.
Local Lists are being tested in a couple of other cities, including San Francisco and Berlin.
VRBO and Homeaway have a similar program, with printed guidebooks for vacation rentals in the Caribbean and other selected locations.
Hotels, of course, have Where and similar city-based content.
NB: Post updated 4 October to mention Fueled.
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About Sean O'Neill
I think this is a great way to close the “in the moment travel planning” loop. As someone who has used Airbnb alot, some of the best hosts created their own lists and resources guide. I actually could see a mobile play as well. As the reco list from my guide was a bit tattered from previous users.
Hey Kimberly,
As an Airbnb user I’ve also found the best hosts have their resource guides.
But not all of the hosts have strengths in that area, and so this might help provide a base line of coverage.
Also a possibility for some income with vendor ads/listings, perhaps.
I still am a bit surprised at it being an analog not a digital plan.
Best,
Sean