Sharing sites such as Uber, Airbnb and Get Around “are here to stay” and it’s a concept that will continue to grow in corporate travel, according to Amadeus' head of sales and consulting for UK and Ireland Guy Snelgar (pictured).
Speaking at the GTMC conference in London yesterday, Snelgar said many buyers are scared of the rise in popularity of the ‘so-called’ sharing economy because of issues such as duty of care, security and quality control.
However, Snelgar cited recent Amadeus research which found that 54 per cent of generation Y corporate travellers would consider using Airbnb or similar for accommodation on a trip, and 18 per cent overall.
He said rather than turn away from sites like these buyers can learn a lot from them by looking at the way they deliver information through attractive photos and simple icons.
“The sharing economy is here to stay,” said Snelgar. “Sites like Airbnb are designed for the Facebook generation and I urge you to have a look at them. Whether or not they play a role [in corporate travel] remains to be seen, but there is so much we can learn in terms of how we present options to younger travellers.”
Earlier this year, Airbnb stepped up its efforts to attract business travellers by launching a new set of tools for planning trips and managing expenses on the road.
Through a partnership with spend management firm Concur, business travellers who use Concur’s Trip Link service will be able to book Airbnb properties directly and have their expense reports automatically pre-populated in Concur.