Airbnb's place in business travel is set to be strengthened by the commercial agreement signed by the world leader in shared accommodation with American Express Global Business Travel. This partnership will not only make it easier to book flats on Airbnb's Business platform, but will also enable travel managers to better track travellers and take advantage of expense reporting. "Airbnb Business gives business travellers access to over two million accommodations worldwide"says Lex Bayer, head of Global Payments and Business Travel at Airbnb.
The partnership will begin to take shape in the United States in the coming weeks, before being extended to other countries including the UK, France and Germany later in the year. Initially, the travel agency and its customers will be able to book directly on Airbnb.com. Subsequently, American Express Global Business Travel and Airbnb will integrate booking data on a dedicated platform for optimal tracking of bookings. Travel managers will have access to this data via reporting and duty of care tools. For their part, travellers will be able to find all this information and their itineraries on their mobile devices. "The safety and peace of mind of travellers is a major priority for companies. As the first travel management company to sign an agreement with Airbnb, we are now enabling our clients to offer their travellers a choice of preferential accommodation by changing their travel policy."said Wes Bergstrom, GBT Vice-President in charge of international supplier relations.
