Airbnb Launches Experiences in New York City with Exclusive Celebrity Tours

Legions of Sex and the City fans drooled over Sarah Jessica Parker’s shoe collection and marveled at her shopping and style prowess.

The shoes and the clothing practically stole the show after all.

But who would have imagined that SJP, a fashion icon, would one day offer the opportunity to go shopping in New York City with her? It’s a Sex and the City fan’s dream come true.

And the opportunity was available for only $400 thanks to Airbnb.

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The home sharing giant announced this week that it is expanding its popular Experiences offerings to include New York City and to celebrate the new market, the site listed several one-time Experiences with celebrities who call the city home.

In addition to Parker, “Baby Driver’ actor, musician, and New York City native Ansel Elgort, former NFL player Michael Strahan have signed on to lead tours, the proceeds from which will benefit charity.  

Beyond the handful of exclusive celebrity hang-out sessions, the New York City Experiences are designed to showcase all five boroughs of the city through more than 150 social impact opportunities.

Opportunities will include tours with artists, local entrepreneurs, and seasoned experts from Queens, to Staten Island, Brooklyn and the Bronx. This eclectic group of tour leaders will offer a variety of ways to see the famous city ranging from a shopping trip with a fashion anthropologist in Harlem to a private tour of the subway system in Manhattan led by a straphanger.

The company said in a statement that its Experience offerings have been growing faster than its home sharing business.

“Compared to guests using Homes in the first year, we’re seeing more than 13x the number of guests using Experiences, and we’ve more than tripled the number of Experiences offered since January,” the company said in a statement.

New York City is the 40th Experiences market for Airbnb. It is an expansion of the existing Harlem Experiences, which was launched in March.

The home sharing platform described Experiences as the next step in its mission to bring people and places together in one travel platform.

As for that shopping experience with SJP, some of the additional details surrounding the fabulous day, which has already been snatched up by four lucky people, include meeting the actress at the iconic Bloomingdale’s flagship store on 59^th street, where she is going to help hand-select the perfect pair of shoes.

READ MORE: Airbnb Surpasses Top Five Hotel Brands Combined

After that, it’s off to one of the best frozen yogurt shops in the city (Four Carrots) for a snack and chat session with Parker about how the city inspires her work. The memorable day concludes with a VIP evening at the New York City Ballet. All proceeds from the Experience benefit the ballet.

Parker told the Associated Press she carefully designed her tour to make sure it "speaks to the very colorful identity that is New York. We could have gone to MOMA or the Whitney or walked through Chinatown or certainly had a nice walk on the High Line or just strolled the streets of the East Village or Midtown East."

She decided on Bloomingdale's because it's "an iconic destination" where she hopes to "be of service" in helping her guests pick out the perfect footwear.

Thank you SJP, from shoe fans everywhere. We can only hope another one of these Experiences with you will be offered again.

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