Airbnbbeginstousethethirdpartydistributionagain?

Airbnb has dipped its toe back in the waters of third-party distribution, almost a year to the day since it axed its original affiliate programme.

The global property-sharing giant has signed a deal this week with two Japanese travel search sites to allow its inventory to feature alongside other accommodation providers.

Visitors to both Travel.co.jp and Travelko will have access to the full Airbnb portfolio of three million products in 34,000 destinations in 191 countries, including 46,000 properties in Japan alone.

The partnership has come about by way of connecting to Airbnb via a content API that has been in place for a number of years, similar to the integration with fellow YCombinator-alum Hipmunk since 2011, when the fledgling travel search startup launched its accommodation search service.