Airbnb for Work does not intend to limit itself to individual business trips, which according to its calculations only concern a quarter (25 %) of a company's employees, on average. Targeting business groups, the managers of the collaborative platform unveiled on Wednesday " a new strategic direction "which focuses on new offers : " from Airbnb experiences for the team buildingAirbnb accommodation for seminars and meetingsand new solutions for mutations ". The stated aim is to "help companies attract, retain and motivate talent".
Shutters seminars and above all mutations are not very far removed from Airbnb's core business. They offer a logical extension to the platform's business positioning. Airbnb for Work already offered carefully selected accommodation, with facilities tailored to business customers. The new seminars and meetings category simply adds collective criteria, by selecting " unique accommodation where teams can create and collaborate, [of] spaces adapted to eventswith practical conveniences such as the wifiindependent entry, etc. "says the press release.
The new offer team building unveiled on Wednesday, is reminiscent of the "experiences" concept launched by Airbnb in 2016 for leisure customers. At the time, the idea was to enhance simple accommodation with fun activities, immersing travellers in a more in-depth discovery of the destination, through the host's expertise, a passion or a hobby. The new "Team building experiences simply add a corporate dimension to these activities in areas such as well-being, team spirit and social impact. More than 800 towns around the world have already signed up to this new offer. Aidan O'Shea, CEO of Business Operations, Voxpro had the opportunity to try out the concept in Ireland". With Airbnb for Work, we went from having a drink after work to learning about the history of Rising Sons Brewery in Cork. ". At Twitter, another Airbnb for Work customer invited to try out these "experiences", Anjela Evangelista, Twitter's Global Travel and Expense Manager, explains: "Airbnb for Work is a great way to get to know people. Our team is a group of food lovers, so making macaroons with Eloise was our first choice! It was an unforgettable experience. Bonus: we each took home a dozen macaroons to share with our families! ".
These new developments should enable Airbnb for Work to attract even more business customers. The business version has already attracted employees from 700,000 companies currently, with almost half of them (300,000) working directly with Airbnb to help them manage their business travel.
