Airbnb has made no secret of its ambitions to become an end-to-end travel platform.
Among the slew of offerings the home-share giant has added to its service over the past 18 months, its long-awaited official entry into transportation might be the most significant, as it solidifies Airbnb’s position as a direct competitor to what it views as its biggest threat: online travel agencies.
The addition of transportation also has dramatic implications for its Airbnb for Work business, which is currently primarily focused on helping corporate travelers secure places to stay.
By providing an end-to-end experience, including transportation, “the complexities and challenges of business travel become even greater,” says Airbnb for Work global head David Holyoke, “and the expectations of [Airbnb] as we work with people will have to evolve and change quite a bit.”
But challenges aside, adding transportation options - flights, in particular - is “obviously a very important part of consideration and attachments for stays,” he says.
Though further details are under wraps, Holyoke says work in the transportation arena is starting to “mature out,” and as it does, the Airbnb for Work team will work closely with the transportation department to ensure corporate travel needs are met.
The TMC question
As Airbnb endeavors to own the end-to-end experience for corporate travelers, is transforming into a full-fledged travel management company in the cards?
It’s not, Holyoke says.
“I don’t think of myself as a TMC today because I’m not anywhere close to end-to-end - nor is Airbnb,” he continues.
“As the company’s vision and strategy becomes more and more realized going forward, with Airbnb for Work complementing and supporting that, we’ll have to always revisit where [the TMC conversation] goes, but I don’t see us as a TMC, now or in the foreseeable future,” he says.
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“We’re very much a complement of someone’s [corporate travel] program and a supplier of stays. So how do we fit within that? The travel ecosystem is really where our priorities have been and will be.”
Holyoke says the primary focus for Airbnb for Work in the short-term is continuing to drive consideration and adoption around stays and expanding use cases.
He points to Airbnb’s recent acquisition of HotelTonight as an opportunity to bring more hotels into the mix, and last week, Airbnb introduced a new work trip toggle to help travelers easily find places to stay for business travel.
Search improvements
The new toggle allows users to find work-friendly listings at the beginning of their accommodation search.
The listings surfaced include entire homes, Airbnb Plus homes and boutique hotels that have been highly rated by other business travelers or that meet standards around quality and amenities.
I don’t think of myself as a TMC today because I’m not anywhere close to end-to-end - nor is Airbnb.
David Holyoke - Airbnb for Work
“As we start to capture that intent further and further up the funnel, it allows us to continue to optimize the experience for business travelers and get more and more personalized as we go forward,” Holyoke says.
“This is just the beginning stages of what will be a lot more foundational work,” he continues, such as knowing if a traveler is staying just two nights versus if that person is traveling with a team, for example, and surfacing the appropriate listings.
“A lot of times, people think about business travel as just one-size-fits-all … but there are a lot of different stays, from short, transient little stays to bleisure trips to extended stays and relocations,” he says.
“All of this work will give us a lot more runway as we move forward and continue to drive a deeper level of personalization. That’s always, for any travel company, the North Star. How do you surface relevant results, anticipate needs?”
Airbnb says more than 500,000 companies around the world use Airbnb for Work to help manage their business travel. It has partnerships with TMCs including Amex Global Business Travel, BCD Travel, GANT Travel Management and Orbit (in New Zealand), plus its integration with SAP Concur.
Holyoke says its relationships with TMCs allow for a more customized approach, with some simply wanting Airbnb’s content and others looking to integrate Airbnb into their everyday workflows.
“The TMCs we have established relationships with have been really proactive in making sure we’re giving visibility into each other’s customer lists and where there’s opportunities to connect our teams together, especially within the large enterprise segment where there’s multinational opportunities,” he says.
“TMCs are looking for additional ways to drive value and savings, and we definitely play well on the savings side.”
Around this time last year, Holyoke said Airbnb for Work was one of the top two fastest-growing businesses within Airbnb, with bookings tripling from 2016 to 2017. In the past year, the company says business travel has been one of the fastest-growing businesses within the Homes business unit.