Home-share giant Airbnb is now the proud owner of a hotel startup

Airbnb will acquire last-minute hotel-booking app HotelTonight as it readies itself for a potential 2019 IPO.

Airbnb announced that it’s acquiring HotelTonight. Sources told Axios the homeshare giant paid close to Hotel Tonight’s last private valuation of about $463m.

Home-share giant Airbnb is now the proud owner of a hotel startup

While HotelTonight sounds like the name of a nightly political chat show, its business model is actually exactly what you think it is: Last-minute hotel booking options.

Nightly hotel stays are a 2019 trend

Inspired by the success of a recent funding round for The Standard Hotel’s new venture, One Night (an app that assigns last-minute hotel books for procrastinating travelers), and Recharge (a hotel-per-minute app), Airbnb wants a bigger piece of the pie.

Airbnb introduced boutique hotels to its platform in early 2018, and according to TechCrunch, it has boasted quick growth, more than doubling the number of boutique hotels, B&B’s, and resorts available last year.

HotelTonight was founded in 2010 and has gained a valuation of $463m with a total of $131m raised in VC funding.

This looks good on a public résumé

Airbnb’s long-term goal is to become an end-to-end travel platform complete with home sharing, hotel booking, experiences, and much more.

As the company readies for its leap into public markets (possibly this year), the company believes including more than off-grid adobe desert homes and treehouses as its quirky options can only help the company’s cause.

Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t.