Airbnb eyes ‘end-to-end’ offering

TRAVEL agents say they
don’t see the expansion
of Airbnb into flights as
a threat to their business
model in the South African
market.
Airbnb co-founder and
chief strategy officer, Nathan
Blecharczyk, recently told
Bloomberg TV Asia that its
future lay in “becoming a
platform for the entire trip”,
while ceo, Brian Chesky, has
also repeatedly alluded to
the launch of ‘Airbnb Flights’,
although few details are
available.
According to a report
in Bloomberg, Airbnb is
considering various routes
to break into the flights
business and may acquire
an online travel agency or
licence data from a GDS
provider. Airbnb reportedly
aims to get Airbnb Flights
off the ground within the
next year.
The platform recently
launched ‘Trips and
Experiences’ in what the
company says is the next
step in becoming an ‘end-toend’
travel platform.
This new venture has grown
from 500 experiences in
12 cities to over 1 800
experiences in over 30
markets in just over six
months. Airbnb said in a
statement that monthly
guests using Experiences had
also grown over 500%.
SA TMCs, travel agents and
OTAs told TNW they were not
intimidated by the expansion
of Airbnb into flights.
Paulina Klotzbücher,
Travelstart chief digital officer,
said it was a major change
for Airbnb to move from
accommodation to flights, as
the company would need to
negotiate deals with airlines
and talk to BSP. “Let’s first
see how they execute their
flight offering in the future,
but I’m not concerned,”
she said.
Paulina welcomes the
fact that Airbnb helps move
travellers from offline to
online. “As more South
African travellers move to
online, Travelstart is the first
to benefit from that.”
Also Vicky Steinhardt,
marketing and product
manager at Pentravel, says
the company doesn’t see
Airbnb as a threat for travel
agents yet as South Africans
still rely on the services of
travel agents. “South Africans
take a while to start trusting
a brand, especially travel
brands. The South African
travel market as a whole is
still quite young, and clients
like service and added values
that agents can offer but
Airbnb can’t.”
The value proposition of
TMCs is generally also far
more comprehensive than
merely booking flights and
accommodation, says Ben
Langner, ceo of Carlson
Wagonlit. “I don’t see this
new development as a threat;
rather an additional factor to
consider when taking care of
our customers,” he says.