The annual Global Business Travel Association Convention is generally the bastion of big business, with legacy companies exhibiting to retain and grow their corporate client lists. Some startups targeting business travelers would represent at the fringes, but generally the environment was one of entrenched interests. It's easy to imagine that this scene has changed little over the past decade.
Oh, how the entrenched interests have changed in 2014! For the first time, sharing and peer-to-peer companies were represented on the trade show floor. Both Airbnb and Uber purchased space to showcase their respective services for business travelers, and have created sleek, brand-appropriate spaces that made for serious buzz among attendees.
And as Concur's recent integrations show, there is a growing appetite for these sorts of on-demand, sharing services to be integrated into the business travel experience. This growth is already happening, and it's now on to the business travel industry to take note and adapt.
Concur CEO Steve Singh had the following to say regarding why these specific companies have seen such growth (Concur's stats here) in demand from the business traveler:
Anyone who travels regularly for business, they are looking for more interesting experiences, a better trip experience. That's what's driving Airbnb adoption in the corporate space. This is an area of spend that, right now, travel programs don't capture at all.
So we wanted to integrate that in, and allow that to be a TripLink partner so that as you make that Airbnb booking, it automatically flows into your itinerary and expense report. That's the reason behind it.
I think Airbnb is going to be one of the biggest hoteliers in the world. They've got a different business problem to solve than a Starwood does, but it's going to be one of the biggest hoteliers in the world.
The truth of the matter is that the arrival of alternative transportation and accommodation categories into GBTA marks the beginning of a fundamental shift for business travel.
Last year, there was plenty of talk of the consumerization of travel tech at GBTA, and how business travel suppliers must quickly move to recreate the consumer experiences travelers are used to. The category moved lightning fast, with the consumer crossover revealing itself not just in ongoing interface updates but in how consumer-first companies like Airbnb and Uber have grown corporate travel market share this year.
Travelers want on-demand convenience, fair pricing, simple technology and flexible locations - regardless of whether the trip is leisure or business. And this trend will continue to define business travel for the foreseeable future, especially as emerging business travelers see Airbnb as a normal part of the business travel menu.
In fact, according to one survey below, North America has the lowest penetration for room rentals - suggesting that the fastest growing markets in Latin American and Asia are already primed to use these services, which may extend greatly into business travel accommodations.
Marc McCabe, the business development lead at Airbnb, understands the unique position that the company finds itself in the business travel market.
Nearly 10% of Airbnb customers travel for business and we’ve had requests from travelers and employers alike to make it easier to conduct business travel while staying at Airbnb listings.
Airbnb isn’t for every road warrior. But for for people looking for a relocation or group offsite, Airbnb is a great service.
We’re at the beginning of our offering for business travelers, right now we are working to get our integration with Concur up and running this fall and will proceed from there.
So Airbnb isn't positioning itself as a hotel killer, but as an alternative for specific sorts of trips. This is a smart path to take, as it winds around to this writer's preferred analogy of the impenetrable business travel castle.
It's helpful to think of business travel as a giant, towering castle. It's ancient, solid as a rock, and has worked well for its intended purpose: keep outsiders out and protect the ecosystem inside.
However, the castle is empty. The castle lords have been so focused on keeping people out that all of the citizens have escaped - there's no one around anymore, as they are all off joyfully frolicking free in the fields. The peasants have quickly forgotten about the castle and are now only focused on the horizon. The castle is now less valuable, and therefore there are far fewer reasons to protect it.
Suppliers targeting business travel must step out of the castle - don't even bother tearing it down - and join the frolicking herd. There's no going back once perceived freedom - and an intuitive, attractive blue-sky interface - has been experienced.
Airbnb and Uber are only the beginning - especially if the entrenched interests continue to ignore the traveler trends that are driving adoption of these frictionless, flexible travel suppliers. Linkups, such as the ones announced with Concur, are only the start of this journey.
And while Concur might well be grooming a monopoly with its pursuit of an Open Platform that brings all expense data through its own system, the company realizes that success comes by allowing travelers the ability to behave however they want while still maintaining the data necessary for expense reporting, management and Duty of Care. That's a powerful position to be in, especially within an ecosystem that rewards those who facilitate the most friction-less transactions.
Travelers care less about the specific supplier and more about the specific supplier's experience, and that's where the industry must now place its focus - on relentlessly improving the traveler experience by sharing data and working together to improve the overall experience.
Yes, it's scary. Yes, that may mean not owning the transaction or the end-to-end consumer relationship. And yes, some folks will lose relevance because they simply cannot adapt. Adapt or die - that's never been more suited to business travel with the marauders bypassing the castle gates to build their own ecosystems elsewhere.