Airbnb sees business travel surge
Company competes as hotels with 250 firms signing up to book and manage segment in 2015
Since debuting in 2008, Airbnb Inc has marketed itself to adventurous vacationers looking for unique and cheap accommodations. This week, the San Francisco-based travel upstart will get a bit more buttoned up.
Airbnb plans to introduce a search tool for business travellers. The feature will allow professionals to filter homes and apartments that Airbnb has deemed Business Travel Ready. To qualify for a BTR listing, as the firm calls it, the dwelling must have a desk, Wi-Fi, self-checkin through a doorman or digital lock and various amenities you’d expect at a hotel, like free shampoo, a hairdryer and iron.
According to Airbnb, 90 per cent of its customers are vacationers. The company attempted to capitalise on its core business last year by adding tourism services, such as hat-making tutorials in London and off-road motorcycle excursions in Los Angeles. But Airbnb sees expense accounts as a big opportunity. US business travel spending is expected to reach $296 billion (Dh1.08 trillion) by the end of this year and climb 5.2 per cent next year, according to the Global Business Travel Association, a trade group.
There were 250 companies signed up with Airbnb to book and manage business travel in 2015. Last year, the number of people using the site for business purposes tripled and is expected to quadruple this year, said David Holyoke, the head of Airbnb’s business travel division. There are now more than 250,000 companies using it, including Alphabet Inc, Domino’s Pizza Inc and Morgan Stanley.
Airbnb is hoping to benefit from younger professionals’ penchant for mixing business with leisure. It said half of people using Airbnb for business travel prolong their reservations through Saturday night. “As millennials advance in the workforce, we’re seeing incredible growth,” said Holyoke.