Airbnb and its peers have taken a chunk out of the hotel market – and now they’re taking steps to attract business guests, too. Jenny Southan reports.

To all those naysayers who said renting other people’s homes would never catch on – you’ve been proven wrong.

In May, a study from Juniper Research showed that “sharing economy” revenues were set to triple from US$6.4 billion to US$20.4 billion globally by 2020. For the first time, hotels and serviced apartment companies are concerned about competition from peer-to-peer rentals arranged through companies such as Airbnb and Onefinestay.

In the past 18 months or so, hundreds of companies have signed up to Airbnb’s Business Travel programme – these include Google, audio distribution giant SoundCloud and cloud communications company Twilio. Last summer, after a year of 700 per cent growth, Airbnb launched a dedicated self-service portal – airbnb.com/business-travel. It offers a suite of tools to make it easier for corporates to make bookings, create itineraries and track expenses, as well as fulfil their duty of care responsibilities and in-house travel policies.

A few months later, Airbnb introduced “Business Travel Ready” listings. This status can only be applied by hosts for entire homes – not just a room in a house shared with others – and essentials such as free wifi must be provided.

In June, Airbnb added a feature allowing PAs and managers to reserve stays on behalf of individual travellers. As a consequence, it has upped the number of companies booking business stays to more than 50,000, with new firms including Morgan Stanley, Facebook and JP Morgan.

Darragh Ormsby, global travel manager for Google, said: “Our employees worldwide appreciate the choice and flexibility that Airbnb listings provide them when they’re on the road – whether for conferences, meetings or team offsites.” Kelly Cammer, travel manager for Twilio, said: “Not only are we able to get better insight into how and when our employees are using Airbnb, but travellers can choose a place that feels like home at a price that fits our travel budgets.”

Of the 40 million stays booked in 2015, 10 per cent were for work, and business nights have so far tripled in 2016. Since launching in 2008, Airbnb now has a presence in 34,000 cities in 191 countries, and has seen more than 100 million guest arrivals.

In 2014, Concur joined forces with Airbnb to allow bookings through its TripLink expense management platform. This summer, American Express Global Business Travel announced that it had forged an agreement with Airbnb that will mean clients can easily track traveller bookings. Implementation began in the US and will follow in the UK, France and Germany by the year’s end. BCD Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) have quickly followed suit.

Scott J Brennan, CWT’s president of hotels, says: “Where this will have the most immediate impact will be on travellers who are seeking extended-stay opportunities. But, as we see it, not every property that is available through Airbnb will be made available to our clients. Properties will need to go through a vetting process to ensure the safety and security of business travellers. We will also ensure clients have established HR policies around groups of employees staying together.”

GATHERING MOMENTUM

Hitwise, a division of consumer analytics company Connexity, has revealed that more than 1.35 million UK travellers visited peer-to-peer home rental sites in the first half of this year, but it is primarily those aged over 35 that are visiting sites such as airbnb.com, versus cheaper options such as couchsurfing.com.

Nigel Wilson, managing director of Hitwise, said: “While the sharing economy is a relatively new industry for some, the appeal of value and personalisation captures all audiences. It’s clear that the benefits offered have become too apparent to appeal to just a single age group and it’s positive to see how the internet is enabling new behaviours.”

Tapping into the luxury end of the sharing economy, Onefinestay was founded in 2010 and now has a portfolio of more than 2,600 rental homes in London, New York, Paris, Rome and LA. It’s essentially Airbnb for the rich, with hotel-style support in the form of 24/7 concierges, top-quality linens, towels and bathing products, and free iPhones on loan. In April, the London-based company was bought by France’s Accorhotels in a £117 million deal. (That’s one way to combat the competition.) It will invest a further £50 million on expansion into 40 new cities over the next five years.

There’s also Oasis Collection, which was founded seven years ago and offers “handpicked homes” across 18 cities such as Buenos Aires, Madrid and Mexico City. Oasis goes a step further than Onefinestay by providing fully stocked fridges, gym membership and access to local private members’ clubs. By the end of next year, it plans to have a presence in 50 cities. In February, Accorhotels also bought a 30 per cent stake in Oasis.

As Airbnb grows, dozens of satellite companies are popping up to help hosts provide a more “five-star” experience for guests. In London, Lavanda will photograph your property, make up beds, clean the apartment, screen guests, manage queries, conduct check-ins, restock fridges and carry out maintenance. Airsorted, Guesty, Pillow, Hostmaker and HelloGuest offer a similar proposition. It means that on your next trip abroad, renting out your own place could be a viable option, too.

The fact remains that for many business travellers the uncertainty of what you are going to get when you stay in someone else’s home is going to be a deterrent, and trawling through hundreds of reviews can be more time-consuming than booking with a familiar Hilton. People travelling for work need to minimise stress and operate at optimum efficiency – top-end hotels pretty much guarantee this with wake-up calls, room service, on-site gyms, butlers and meeting space, but those staying in lower-end hotels may find Airbnb offers a compelling alternative.

That said, if your travel manager will do all the legwork in booking an apartment for you, then you’re probably going to be on to a winner. What’s more, there are some stunning places out there that will trump even the most swanky of hotel suites.

Have you used companies such as Airbnb for work, and how did you find it? Share your experiences on our forum

CASE STUDY: THREE NIGHTS IN STOCKHOLM

Many people in my peer group (I am in my mid-thirties) use Airbnb both for holiday and work, so I decided to try it on a recent trip to Stockholm. I was going for three nights – two days’ work plus the weekend for sightseeing. I wanted somewhere well located and with attractive Scandi interiors. It also needed to be cheaper than an equally attractive hotel room.

THE SEARCH

I created a profile on the airbnb.co.uk/business-travel portal and verified my ID by uploading a photo of my driving licence. At first I thought all the properties in this part of the site had been curated by Airbnb, but in fact only about 10 per cent of the 300-plus listings had a suitcase icon to indicate it was “business travel ready” (BTR). This status is self-declared by hosts when properties have 24-hour check-in, wifi, clothes hangers, a hairdryer, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, shampoo, an iron, a laptop-friendly workspace, towels and sheets, and do not allow smoking or pets. BTR hosts must respond to at least 90 per cent of booking requests within 24 hours and offer the entire home for rental. They cannot cancel reservations within seven days of check-in. Airbnb relies on user reviews to flag up dishonesty or inconsistency.

I spent a good couple of hours going through the listings and reviews. You can narrow your search in terms of district, price, whether it has an “instant book” option (handy) or the owner is a “Super Host”, but there was no way to search for BTR residences only.

I was torn between apartments that looked nice but weren’t BTR and those that did tick this box. Finally, I found a gorgeous-looking 61 sqm one-bedroom place dating back to 1909 in desirable Sodermalm, with 56 five-star reviews. At £182 a night, it was more expensive than I wanted but was “business travel ready”.

BOOKING

I requested to book (it was listed as available on my dates) but after about five hours was declined – it wasn’t free after all. I returned to my “wishlist” of plan B options – click the “heart” icon and your selections will be saved for later – and settled on a 30 sqm studio with a balcony in Vasastan (pretty central). It had eight reviews, all positive, and was £99 a night. Owned by a local shoe designer called Jennie, it had white painted floors, an Eames rocking chair and stacks of art magazines. It wasn’t BTR but seemed to offer everything I needed. There was a box I could tick to say this was a business trip and to “share my reservation details with my company”.

The booking went through, and Jennie advised that as she was away travelling, a friend who ran an Airbnb management business would hand over the keys.

CHECK-IN

Frederic emailed to check my flight details and swap numbers. He was waiting outside at 1.30pm, as promised. The apartment was exactly as it looked in the pictures, was clean and had directions to the local metro station and supermarket. Frederic told me I could leave when I wanted on the Sunday, and put the key through the letterbox. I could call if I had any questions.

THE STAY

The property was quiet and set back from the street in its own courtyard. The bed was comfy and there was a large table for working, speedy wifi and a coffee machine, but no kettle. I couldn’t get the grill to work. The location on Gastrikegatan was a 20-minute walk from the central business district of Norrmalm.

VERDICT

Overall, I loved the flat – it had a good vibe and made me feel more like a local. In some ways I missed the support you get in a hotel – I had forgotten my toothbrush, for example, so had to go out and buy one. Being able to cook for yourself also saves money. First-time users of Airbnb for Business Travel get £38 off their next rental – I will certainly be making use of that.

AIRBNB IN NUMBERS

Sources: Airbnb, HRS, Marriott, skift.com, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg

  • 2008 year founded
  • 21,000  worldwide guest arrivals in 2009
  • 40 million worldwide guest arrivals in 2015
  • 100 million total worldwide arrivals since 2008
  • 120,000 worldwide listings in 2011
  • 2.5 million worldwide listings in 2016
  • 1.1 million hotel rooms provided by merger of Marriott and Starwood to create world’s biggest hotel chain
  • 10% percentage of Airbnb stays for business travel in 2016
  • 50,000 companies that have so far booked with Airbnb for Business in 2016
  • 3 number of travel management companies that have partnered with Airbnb
  • 191  countries Airbnb has a presence in
  • 34,000 number of cities you can stay in
  • US$115 average Airbnb rate for one-night stay in London (2015-16)
  • £141 average cost of hotel stay in London in 2015 (US$183)
  • 6-12.5% guest service fee Airbnb takes from each booking
  • US$900 million estimated revenue it earned in 2015
  • US$30 billion most recent 2016 valuation of Airbnb
  • US$10 billion revenue forecast for 2020