Airbnb is growing up. The platform turned 10 this year and
marked the occasion with a significant turn toward maturity.
The company announced a segmentation strategy in February
that aligned Airbnb more closely with traditional hospitality branding. It
stratified its content beyond the previous "entire home," "shared
space" and "private room" to include more nuanced discriptors
like "vacation home," "unique space," "B&B"
and "boutique." It also introduced Airbnb Plus and Airbnb Beyond,
which differentiate the platform's luxury-caliber product, and formalized
Airbnb Collections.
Collections included a revamp of Airbnb for Business into
Airbnb for Work, and there's been a concerted effort to attract corporate group
business, as well. As of September, Airbnb had counted 300,000 companies actively
managing employee Airbnb usage within travel programs. Airbnb's influence,
however, is about more than the growth of its corporate-oriented business.
Chesky has made canny hiring decisions that show his
commitment to maturing the brand. He onboarded veteran David Holyoke from
Travel Leaders Corporate in 2016 and this year brought in former Amazon Prime
VP Greg Greeley to run Airbnb Homes. As head of Airbnb for Work, Holyoke takes
credit for invigorating that business. Greeley's role as president of Homes is
more expansive but has strengthened the host community and galvanized them
around the new segmentation.
Stronger differentiation has expanded partnership potential.
Airbnb welcomed more boutique hotel business to the platform and established a
critical corporate travel partnership this year with Concur. As of August,
travel managers can display Airbnb for Work listings on the Concur
platform.
Even as Airbnb nods to more traditional
hospitality strategies and buttons up its offerings, its home sharing niche
continues to attract established giants who want a piece of that market. Accor
has tried to compete but wrote off millions in the second quarter on account of
its 2016 Onefinestay acquisition and has put the business under strategic
review. Accor's struggles have apparently not dampened enthusiasm among
traditional players for what Airbnb has proven to be a lucrative market;
Marriott International began piloting home rentals in April.