WHAT ’ S HOT
SALES & MARKETING
WHAT ’ S HOT
SALES & MARKETING
AIRBNB
EYES
HOTELS
F ollowing an acquisition and major investment , home-sharing platform Airbnb is starting to play hard and fast with the traditional hotel industry . With the March acquisition of HotelTonight ( last valued at US $ 463 million in the private market ) and its subsequent investment in Oyo Hotels & Homes , Airbnb is making moves into traditional hospitality and has rebranded itself an “ end-to-end travel platform .”
“ We are investing in creating new businesses that will power our growth over the long term ,” says Airbnb ’ s Clara Liang , general manager , professional hosting .
According to Liang , the company ’ s core business , Homes , has grown from around 20,000 listings in 2009 to more than 6 million today . Its Airbnb Experiences launched in 2016 with 500 experiences in 12 cities and today offers 25,000 in 500 cities .
The acquisition of HotelTonight is part of an industrywide consolidation as major brands add products and geographic locations to offer one-stop shopping for travelers and to build customer loyalty . “ It ’ s about adding more dots on the map ,” says Michael Bellisario , hospitality industry analyst at Robert W . Baird & Co . “ There ’ s an arms race for growth and scale .”
Airbnb sees the invitation of more traditional hotel players as a win-win for all involved . For guests , hospitality entrepreneurs bring more choices for stays on Airbnb ; for hosts , Airbnb provides scale and new travel audiences to grow their businesses .
Indeed , the diversification could make Airbnb more valuable as it prepares for
an IPO , says Bjorn Hanson , professor at New York University ’ s Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism . “ They stay close to their line of business but add revenue .”
Airbnb wouldn ’ t comment on how new resources from its expected IPO might be used to make further inroads into its hotel distribution network beyond HotelTonight .
But the company did speak to its foray into transportation and how that fits in with its new vision of itself .
“ We ’ re not interested in building our own airline or creating just another place on the Internet where you can buy a plane ticket — we ’ re exploring a broad array of ideas and will focus on building partnerships and services that make travel seamless while delivering the kind of people-to-people hospitality Airbnb is known
BrianChesky and two logos as mash up
for ,” Liang says . In addition to the
HotelTonight acquisition in April , Airbnb invested a reported US $ 100 million to US $ 200 million in India ’ s largest hospitality company , Oyo Hotels & Homes . The collaboration is expected to see at least a portion of Oyo ’ s portfolio listed on Airbnb . With over 10,000 villas and apartments across India and Dubai , Oyo ’ s biggest urban home management business could be the best opportunity here for Airbnb .
“ Emerging markets like India and China are some of Airbnb ’ s fastest-growing , with our growth increasingly powered by tourism to and from these markets ,” says Liang . “ In many of these markets , Oyo is empowering local hospitality entrepreneurs to provide more options to more travelers .” — C . R .
16 hotelsmag . com June 2019