Airbnb to Launch New Feature to Promote Business Travel

Ever since it debuted in the year 2008, Airbnb has started marketing itself to holidaymakers with an adrenaline rush, on the hunt for cheap accommodations.

Next week, this San Francisco-based travel upstart plans to launch a brand new search tool that would be designed exclusively for corporate travellers.

This new feature would permit professionals to filter homes and apartments that have been deemed by Airbnb as Business Travel Ready.

In order to be eligible for a BTR listing, the company says that the accommodation should be well-equipped with a self-check-in via a doorman, Wi-Fi, digital lock and different amenities offered by a hotel including an iron, free hairdryer and free shampoo.

Airbnb said that about 90% of its customers are vacationers.

This company made efforts to leverage on its core business in 2016 by adding tourism services like hat-making tutorials in London as well as off-road motorcycle excursions in Los Angeles. But then, Airbnb has been witnessing that travel expenditure is actually presenting a golden opportunity to it. For instance, the U.S. business travel spending is thought to reach $296 billion by the end of this year and would ascend by 5.2% next year, as per the Global Business Travel Association.

There had been as many as 250 companies that signed up with Airbnb to book and manage business travel in 2015.

Last year, the number of people utilizing the site for business purposes has tripled and is expected to quadruple this year, according to David Holyoke, the head of the business travel division of Airbnb. Currently, there are over 250,000 companies using it like Morgan Stanley, Domino’s Pizza and so on.

Airbnb also hopes to benefit from the modern trend of younger professionals’ penchant for blending business with leisure.

Therefore, at present, Airbnb stands at a more profitable venture as compared to Wyndham Corporation, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Hilton Hotels Corporation.