Airbnb wants to attract more business travelers

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Airbnb is in talks to partner with Sabre Travel Network, which provides travel information and booking services for travel management companies through an online marketplace, The Memo reports.

The partnership would give Airbnb more opportunities to attract business travelers by enabling travel management companies to book Airbnb stays through Sabre’s marketplace for their corporate clients.

Airbnb entered the business travel space in 2015, and it’s seen modest success in that market lately.

• In 2016, Airbnb tripled the number of companies using its Airbnb for Business program, which allows partner businesses to book and expense Airbnb stays.
• Travel spending by UK businesses on Airbnb bookings grew 61% between Q3 2014 and Q2 2016, according to analysis from Concur, a business travel and expense management firm.
• Companies saved an average of 30% when employees booked through Airbnb instead of hotels, according to a study by travel management company CWT Solutions Group, which has previously partnered with Airbnb for travel services.

Despite these initiatives, business travelers still only account for 10% of Airbnb’s bookings, and the company makes up only a small fraction of the market for business travel lodgings. Total corporate spend on Airbnb bookings in the UK, France, and Germany amounted to $9.2 million dollars over a two-year period, Concur’s study found. The business travel market across those countries is worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

Airbnb’s ability to attract more business travelers will be crucial to its disruption of the traditional hotel industry. In the US, 70% of room nights are booked by business travelers, which means Airbnb’s growing popularity among leisure travelers hasn’t had a truly damaging impact on hotel chains’ top lines. The potential partnership with Sabre Travel Network is one way Airbnb can increase its presence in the business travel industry. Another way is through its recent acquisition of Luxury Retreats, which offers a platform for renting high-end properties that could allow Airbnb to provide booking services for corporate retreats. In addition, the company is reportedly profitable, and still has not spent the majority of its funding raised. This means Airbnb is well positioned to invest in further initiatives to attract business travelers going forward.

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