CNN
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Penthouses and chateaux are a far cry from the sofas and spare rooms that launched vacation rental behemoth Airbnb.
Eleven years after Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia invited renters to sleep on air mattresses in their San Francisco apartment, Airbnb has launched an exponentially more luxurious tier of rental properties with Airbnb Luxe.
The 2,000 newly listed properties were drawn from Luxury Retreats, a separate rental site acquired by Airbnb in 2017. That site continues to operate independently, with a total of 5,000 luxury listings around the world.