Bowing to the inevitable

Airbnb has been the billion dollar elephant in the apartment for a couple of years now, with industry reaction to it ranging from indifference to outright hostility.

So it’s refreshing to see BridgeStreet having the foresight to actually embrace Airbnb as a business partner, rather than swimming against the tide. And this isn’t just a cosmetic deal done for appearances’ sake – it has been a long time in the planning and recognises the rapidly growing use of Airbnb by business travellers.

This is the most significant step so far in the breaking down of the “them and us” mentality that the serviced apartment sector has largely adopted to the sharing economy, and it is likely to be a tipping point, with many other operators following BridgeStreet’s example.

BridgeStreet is a sponsor of the Serviced Apartment Summit MEA, which is taking place at Fairmont The Palm in Dubai on October 26 and 27. The conversation on ‘demand drivers’ and impact of short term rentals in the region is discussed with HomeAway’s Taleeb Noormohamed.