Global Partnership to Provide Unique, Local Experiences to Wish Families through Airbnb Trips
SAN FRANCISCO, November 17, 2016 — Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company, together with Make-A-Wish®, one of the world’s leading children’s charities, announced a new partnership to grant one wish per day to children with life-threatening illnesses throughout all of 2017.
“For wish kids and their families, an amazing trip can be a transformative experience. And the Airbnb community is uniquely prepared to help make wishes come true,” said Kim Rubey, Head of Social Impact & Global Philanthropy at Airbnb. “Make-A-Wish has been creating life-changing experiences for deserving children and their families for decades. We are honored to join them in working to achieve their vision of granting the wish of every eligible child around the world.”
Under the partnership announced today as a part of the launch of Airbnb’s Trips platform, the company will donate up to $1 million to provide accommodations and access to unique local experiences to wish families with the help of its host community — making Airbnb one of the largest hospitality sponsors for Make-A-Wish globally. Since 2015, Airbnb has worked alongside Make-A-Wish America and Make-A-Wish International by donating travel credits to wish kids like Maya who wished to go to the Summer Games in Rio or Riley who wanted to mountain bike in British Columbia or Zachary who visited the site of Lord of The Rings in New Zealand. Now, Airbnb is expanding the partnership to include magical experiences, through Airbnb’s new Trips platform.
“We’ve been humbled and inspired by the Airbnb community who have gone above and beyond to generously welcome our wish families into their homes,” said David Williams, President and CEO, Make-A-Wish America. “From Claude and Jacque in San Francisco who donated tickets to the Academy of Sciences for a wish child, Hunter, to Tiago in Portugal who generously treated his wish family to dinner at his favorite local restaurant on their first night. I’m excited to see how the partnership evolves with the introduction of Airbnb Trips and the incredible experiences they will create for our wish families.”
“We are thrilled to have a partner in Airbnb and are moved by their commitment to making an impact on our global mission – helping to change the lives of seriously ill children and their families across the world, forever,” said Jon Stettner, President and CEO, Make-A-Wish International.
In addition, Airbnb is aiming to deepen the impact of this new partnership by matching donations up to a total of $100,000 to Make-A-Wish on the Airbnbwish.com site during Airbnb Open, the company’s three-day festival of hosting, which concludes November 20. In addition, Airbnb hosts can also sign up to host Make-A-Wish families at discounted rates, which will help the Airbnb community serve more wish kids.
Since granting their first wish in 1980, the Make-A-Wish offices in 41 countries across the world have curated more than 350,000 wishes for critically ill children, cementing their reputation as one of the world’s leading children’s charities. Today, nearly 75 percent of wishes granted in the U.S. and over 40 percent of wishes outside the U.S. involve travel.
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About Make-A-Wish:
Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Make-A-Wish is the world’s largest wish-granting organization, serving children in nearly 50 countries on five continents. With the help of generous donors and more than 32,000 volunteers worldwide, Make-A-Wish grants a wish somewhere in the world every 21 minutes on average. Since 1980, it has granted more than 350,000 wishes to children around the world. For more information about Make-A-Wish America, visit wish.org and for more information on Make-A-Wish International, visit worldwish.org.