Airbnb started out geared toward the business traveler but then it exploded into the travel market for pleasure trips as well. Now the company is started to push the corporate travel angle once again.
To do this, the company has been building relationships with some of the major management systems like American Express Global Business Travel and BCD Travel. Since last July the amount of business travel done on the site has tripled.
Julian Persaud, Airbnb’s Regional Director of APAC spoke out about the shift and why the concept is so important for corporate travel.
“Business travelers want convenience, where they can get good Wi-Fi, an ironing board and hair dryer … things you accept in traditional accommodations.”
They feel that the business travel section of the site is particularly growing fast because of the younger market.
“Particularly, millennial employees have higher expectations of how they spend their time and wanting to move away from traditional methods. They’re the ones knocking on the doors of their boss, saying, ‘hey we want to do this.'”
The website now specifies if certain listings are business ready, which requires that the listings be free of pets and have no smoking. Airbnb estimates that the savings of using the site over getting a hotel room saves 20 to 30 percent per stay.
