Is Airbnb Ready for Business Travelers?
by Michele McDonald /Airbnb is getting some notice in the corporate travel market, particularly after doing a deal with Concur last summer. But is it ready for prime time?
The last thing a travel agent needs is for an important client to have a bad experience with accommodations during a business trip.
While some of Airbnb’s inventory is suitable for business travelers, some is not, and there is no clear way at this point for agents to distinguish between the two.
Property descriptions don’t always point out whether an apartment is a third-floor walk-up or whether the nearest taxi stand is a mile away.
Agents also should not overlook liability issues if the customer is injured or something else goes wrong. In addition, local laws may govern how many nights constitute an illegal stay.
Testing the waters
Nicole Hackett decided to suss out whether Airbnb could be integrated into her corporate travel program. Hackett is director of travel services at Graham Holdings (formerly The Washington Post Company), a diversified conglomerate that owns television stations, educational services and a cable company.
As an experiment, she booked an apartment in San Francisco through Airbnb.
It did not go well.
Hackett, who related her experience recently during a panel discussion at The Beat Live, a business travel conference, said her first impression was not favorable: “I had to pick up the keys in a smoke shop.”
When she arrived at the apartment, she discovered it was on the second floor of a building that didn’t have an elevator.
“I had about 10 minutes to make a meeting,” she said, and several of those minutes were eaten up as she dragged her luggage up the stairs.
Once inside, she noticed that “the cleaning crew hadn’t been there.”
This was not the sort of experience that would go over well with her travelers, 35% of whom are from Graham Holdings’ executive suites.
Making amends
To Airbnb’s credit, Hackett said, it handled her feedback very well.
“The response was phenomenal,” she said. The company assured her that it would work with its hosts to prevent such unpleasant surprises.
“I told them that we’ll continue to move forward with them, but slowly,” Hackett said.
She also told Airbnb that it needs to have a corporate travel category so that accommodations suitable for cost-conscious leisure travelers are not marketed to corporate executives.
That’s a definite maybe
Carol McDowell, manager of corporate travel services at Washington D.C.-based FINRA, a financial services company in Washington, agreed that Airbnb could have a future in business travel, especially in cities with limited hotel supply.
“If it’s a new high-rise condo for $100 a night, that’s a home run,” she said.
And Dana Rixter, director of travel services at Greenlawn, N.Y.-based BAE Systems, added that “millennials will take to it.”
But Susan Lichtenstein, director of global travel for Cisco Systems, cautioned that companies need to be aware of the legalities of using unconventional accommodations.
“We encourage people not to stay with their families when they are on a business trip,” she said. “It’s high-risk.”
A hotel, on the other hand, “is liable if something happens.”