US: Airbnb is expanding its existing partnership with business travel expense management company Concur.
The partnership will now allow Concur users to book Airbnb accommodations from directly within the platform. The integration means travellers will be able to search for Airbnb listings from within Concur Travel and book via Concur. The feature will roll out to Concur users in the coming months, the companies added.
“Our customers want to give their employees the ability to take advantage of Airbnb lodging, but within the framework and controls of their existing travel program,” said Concur chief product officer Tim MacDonald in a statement. “We partnered with Airbnb to do exactly that. First with TripLink and now with Concur Travel integration, we are providing the control and visibility our customers require while helping travel managers fulfill their duty of care needs.”
Airbnb global head of business travel David Holyoke said: “The lines between business and leisure travel are blurring, with more and more of us combining business trips with weekend stays. Travellers often want to get out and absorb the culture of a city when they’re traveling for business, while travel managers need visibility into employee spend and whereabouts to support corporate policy and duty of care programs. We’re excited to expand that opportunity through our partnership with Concur’s industry-leading solutions to make Airbnb for business travel easier to book,” he added.
According to Airbnb, the number of corporate travellers using its services has increased by 33 per cent year-over-year in Q2 2017, with employees from more than 250,000 companies using Airbnb for corporate use.</p
