Seventeen and Airbnb Teamed Up to Take Over Los Angeles with City-Spanning K-Pop Festivities

Fans travel from far and wide to see their favorite artists, and a new concert travel trend is taking so-called “gig-tripping” to the next level.

Airbnb has teamed up with K-pop superstars Seventeen to create a city-wide takeover of curated activities, activations, and of course accommodations, during the group’s “(New_)” world tour, which just kicked off. its US leg last week. The concept, dubbed “Seventeen The City,” expands on the type of meet-ups K-pop stans and other fandoms have been orchestrating among themselves for ages, but with an impressive roster of curated activities and input from the artists themselves.

For Seventeen’s back-to-back LA shows at BMO Stadium on Oct. 16 and 17, offerings for Carats (as the group’s fans are known) included K-pop dance classes with a choreographer that’s worked with some of their favorite idols, glam sessions for hair and nails with top industry pros, and a party with DJs flown in for the occasion from Seoul.

And while proximity to real creatives working within the K-Pop industry is certainly a draw, many activities — or “Originals” as Airbnb calls the experiences — also focused on meeting fellow Carats and building a fan community, including a crafting session to upcycle old concert merch and an afternoon sound bath experience on Santa Monica Beach to decompress from all the week’s excitement.

The festive vibes all came to a head at BMO Stadium during back-to-back concerts, where the normally 13-member group performed as nine (four are currently enlisted in Korea’s mandatory military service) for about 20,000 fans each night. For the first time, the set list included nine solo performances — from S.Coups, 30, Joshua, 29, Jun, 29, DK, 28, Mingyu, 28, The 8, 27, Seungkwan, 27, Vernon, 27, and Dino, 26 — of songs featured on their latest album, Happy Burstday.

As fans took part in Seventeen’s hallmark ending song, never-ending “Aju Nice,” after a week of Carat-filled and -fueled activities, many no doubt felt a bit more connected to the group and one another.

For those who missed out, Airbnb will create another “The City” takeover in Tokyo for Seventeen’s shows there in December. It might be a long haul for some, but they’re proving for many, fandom knows no bounds.