Airbnb to launch glossy magazine

Each edition of the Pineapple magazine will look at three cities.

Airbnb is moving beyond its internet roots into the world of publishing with the launch of a glossy quarterly magazine.

The apartment rental website – which sparked a social media storm earlier this year when its new logo was compared to genitalia – is launching the first edition of the magazine this week.

The 128-page magazine, called Pineapple, is a glossy coffee table production of the same ilk as i-D or Wonderland.

The magazine promises to take a “new and inspiring look at travel through the lens of the Airbnb community”.

Each edition will look at three cities, with London, Seoul and San Francisco being featured first.

“A couple of years ago we mapped out the user journey of the experience of Airbnb hosts, guests and travellers,” said Andrew Schapiro, head of brand creative at Airbnb. “The realisation is the majority of experience [after booking online] is offline in people’s homes or neighbourhoods around the world. So it was a natural transition to tell stories in a printed format. We see the magazine living in people’s homes on their coffee table.”

An initial run of 1,500 copies Will be distributed in the US and North America, hitting UK shelves on the 21 November through Antenne Books, which deals with boutique outlets including the Design Museum, Foyles, Tate Modern and Daunt Books.

It will be priced at £9, with around 1,000 copies also available to buy via the Airbnb website.

There are also plans to eventually have mobile and tablet editions if the company sticks with its move into publishing.

“Airbnb is one of the world’s largest story-doing platforms,” says Jonathan Mildenhall, chief marketing officer at Airbnb. “Long form content is an essential part of our future strategy. The magazine format will be ongoing although we are awaiting the response to issue one prior to determining the long term frequency of publication.”