Airbnb’s Experiences program has launched in Utah, and hosts are seeing their reservations fill up

Learn to forge a rose of metal in Provo.

Dine in a Navajo hogan after tending sheep in San Juan County.

Paddleboard under the stars in St. George.

Airbnb’s Experiences program has arrived in Utah — and two weeks after the feature quietly rolled out here, the options are vast and reservations are filling up. The online platform connects travelers to “hosts” chosen by Airbnb to lead activities with a local flair.

“We’re booking like crazy, far faster than I thought that we would,” said Micah Young, a high school science teacher in Orderville who now leads canyoneering tours through Experiences.

Unsurprisingly, adventure sports account for many of the 48 Utah offerings available now. Guides are listed for mountain biking in Park City, rappelling at Provo’s Bridal Veil Falls, rafting the San Rafael River and canyoneering in Robbers Roost, among other outings.

Young had long been showing off Orderville’s canyons to Airbnb guests who rented the tiny houses and the treehouse he put up on his property for tourists. About a year ago, he said, he looked into offering formal tours — but found Airbnb had limited its Experiences feature to just a couple of dozen major cities.

“We don’t look like we’re one of the 50 biggest cities, but we have 5 million visitors a year here,” Young said.

That was the pitch of the Utah Office of Tourism, which promoted the state as an ideal place for Airbnb to expand its Experiences to rural destinations.

“Our two goals were, one, helping people get off the beaten path … and two, to help build small businesses, particularly in rural Utah,” said Vicki Varela, the state’s director of tourism and film.

Tourism officials worked with Airbnb to curate a lineup of Experiences to represent various corners and cultures of the state, from a cocktail-mixing class in Salt Lake City to romping with alpacas on a farm in Monticello.

Unlike the company’s lodging rentals, which allow virtually anyone to advertise any place to spend a night, its Experiences platform is carefully prescreened. Experience hosts are generally selected for expertise and local ties, and to represent an array of interests.

A Salt Lake City birdwatcher is offering to drive guests into the mountains to view tiny owls. In Kanab, the Bar G Wranglers string band is hosting intimate cowboy concerts. The Natural History Museum of Utah is giving behind-the-scenes tours in its fossil prep lab, and a college student in Provo is providing tastings of local artisan honeys.

Scott and Becky Lyttle, who opened the Tea Zaanti tea shop in Salt Lake City, were booking an Airbnb in San Francisco when Experiences for the Bay Area began popping up.

“Owning a tea shop, we thought maybe [this was something] we could do,” Scott Lyttle said.

Their tea blending class got its first taker last week, when a tea connoisseur from Brooklyn popped in during a cross-country road trip. Then on Saturday, a couple on a “weekend getaway” booked a blending session — including scones to celebrate the royal wedding.

Like the Lyttles, Young has only gotten bookings with out-of-towners; no Utahns have signed up yet, even though anyone can book an Experience, regardless of whether you’re staying at an Airbnb.

Another pattern Young noticed: A lot of his customers hadn’t planned to go canyoneering at all until they saw his listing on Airbnb Experiences.

“They didn’t know what [canyoneering] was. They just thought it looked like the most fun thing on Airbnb Experiences,” he said. A lot of visitors seem to associate “canyoneering” with “mountaineering” and assume it’s too extreme for casual tourists, Young said.

“Then they see the pictures,” Young said. “Airbnb allows it to be less intimidating.”

In the first couple of weeks, Young said, he has led canyoneers from ages 6 to 65. He and his business partner, Joseph Sorensen — also a local high school teacher — were vetted by Airbnb for their backcountry experience and had to go through permitting and licensure like any commercial touring operation. The canyon they tour is on state land, which requires a permit, as well as authorization from adjacent private landowners to cross the desert there.

The relative secrecy of the canyon, which includes eight rappels, is especially appealing to tourists hoping to escape the crowds around St. George, Sorensen said.

“They’re looking for something like this, where they can go, just them and the guide, and enjoy nature on their own,” Sorensen said.

Young is now training extra guides because the canyon tours began filling up his calendar so quickly in the days after Utah’s Experiences went live online.

“This was supposed to be just a little side business, and I’m starting to have to switch gears a bit,” Young said.