When you have built a brand like Airbnb’s, the last thing you want is to become just a pipe. It’s one reason that for corporate travel entities, integrating content from the accommodation portal has been challenging. There are workarounds aplenty. Concur a year ago announced plans to integrate Airbnb with its travel booking tool. It then targeted February to launch it. Now it’s…
Concur expects to launch by February the ability to pull Airbnb listings into hotel-only search results within the Concur Travel self-booking tool. At companies that opt in, users searching for lodging as a standalone item would see Airbnb listings with pricing and…
GBTA will consider “all forms of accommodations” for a forthcoming update to its hotel request for proposals template. Aiming to complete the update in time for 2019 rate negotiations, GBTA will establish a volunteer task force to determine which new elements to incorporate, according to an association official. Bringing home-sharing into the annual hotel RFP process would be fascinating. Airbnb…
Airbnb inventory is coming to corporate booking channels. Concur and Flight Centre this summer went public with their plans. Amadeus is considering if and how to link its booking tool. Airbnb’s self-reported data shows rapid growth even before these integrations. Anecdotal reports indicate increased corporate acceptance. Concur in July said “in the coming months” it would integrate Airbnb listings within…
You generally will not see interviews published here, but an opportunity that came up last week made an exception worthwhile. What follows are excerpts of separate interviews with top executives at the three largest travel management companies. We spoke by phone with American Express Global Business Travel president Philippe Chérèque last Monday, Carlson Wagonlit Travel president and CEO Kurt Ekert…
It’s a classic tale of challenges and opportunities. And disclaimers. For when the three biggest travel management companies help clients use Airbnb, they say, they’re not endorsing it. Whether to use it is up to clients. TMCs are simply capturing data. Well, they might be marketing it, too. And they could soon be booking it. In any case, it will…
[UPDATE, June 10: Airbnb announced the program. An official said travel agents are not part of it for the moment, but on-site agents might be. More context here.] Breaking from its standard policy of allowing only the guest to book his or her own accommodations, Airbnb is preparing a feature for its business clients allowing travel agents or arrangers to make…
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