Arnaldo Munoz
The sharing economy has become more widely accepted by corporates who recognise the many benefits it can offer business travellers. The rise of freelance workers and digital nomads has been one of the trends that pushed this forward and people are travelling more than they ever have. Driven by a new experience-led economy where people place greater value on experiences over ownership, people are finding ways to make travel a major part of their lifestyle. This wanderlust trend is showing up in the way people approach how they travel for business.
Partnerships with major TMCs have also been part of this integration by providing access to more options with the necessary controls required in a managed travel programme.
How travellers are using the sharing economy
Our data shows that more and more business travellers are using these tools to plan and book their own 'bizcation'. For example, the average length of a business traveller's stay with us is twice as long as stays in traditional accommodation, at 6.8 days per trip. Around 60% of business trips included a Saturday or Sunday night in the last year and this is because business travel is becoming less about being a road warrior and more about mixing business with leisure. More and more business travellers are getting to know a new city or neighbourhood they've never visited before.
There's also a trend in bookings for group meetings; around 35% of business travel bookings in our platform are for two or more travellers. For example, a company might send a team to the countryside for corporate retreats and team building. They can rent a large villa and stay together. Or with so many remote workers, often companies will bring everyone to headquarters and want them to stay together.
The travel manager balance
Duty of care is still high on the agenda for many corporate travel managers. Safety is the single most important thing we work on every day. Travel managers can access data through corporate reporting and duty of care platforms, giving them better insight into employee experience. It means travel managers can bring alternative accommodation bookings into view for managed travel with interactive maps and detailed reports in real-time.
While some jobs will always require employees to be a road warrior, many travellers today crave the same flexibility in business travel that they have in their personal travels - from adding a weekend stay to a business trip to seeking out local and unique experiences when traveling solo or with colleagues. Business travel is no longer one size fits all.
- Arnaldo Munoz is Europe business lead at Airbnb