By Elizabeth Dwoskin, Wall Street Journal

Airbnb wants to be a travel agent.

People who opened the apartment-sharing company’s mobile app in San Francisco on Thursday found something new: recommendations for rentals around Lake Tahoe and other nearby getaways.

Surabhi Gupta, an Airbnb software engineer, said the feature is part of an effort by the six-year-old company to play a bigger role in “discovery” – helping people plan vacations and find new destinations. She spoke at a conference at Airbnb’s San Francisco headquarters Thursday.

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