To heat up its competition with hotels, Airbnb has added concierge services so that guests will not have to rely on their host for information about the area.

The 24/7 concierge -- at no extra cost to Airbnb guests -- will be available by phone to provide information like restaurant suggestions, answer questions about foreign travel logistics and even help file police reports for lost or stolen credit cards. Airbnb is including the local concierge phone number with reservations.

Airbnb is outsourcing its concierge services to MyAssist on a trial basis for the next three months, according to Mashable. The U.S.-based personal assistance company was founded by John Noel, Chairman and CEO of the Noel Group, in 2009. MyAssist provides live operator assistance for Ford's SNYC Services in the form of directions and business search functions. After the trial period Airbnb will decide whether the added service is adding value to members trips.

Airbnb has not revealed how much it is paying for MyAssist's services.

LAUNCH has contacted both Airbnb and MyAssist for comments on the deal and will update with any response.

Airbnb recently launched its sublet program offering hosting more then 15K sublets in over 5K cities [ see our story here ].

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