Skift Take
Anyone willing to bet that you may find your favorite "mass-produced" hotel chains on Airbnb in the not-too-distant future?
If there were any doubt as to Airbnb's true intentions of competing with online travel agency giants such as Booking.com or Expedia, they need to be laid to rest immediately.
Wednesday, the $31 billion company announced the formation of a technology partnership with SiteMinder, a cloud-based hotel distribution platform used by more than 28,000 hotels around the world.
Now, hotels that use SiteMinder and meet certain criteria from Airbnb can easily list their inventory, including real-time availability, rates, and content, on Airbnb thanks to new technology that both parties have developed together.
It's still not entirely clear what criteria hotels will have to meet. But we expect that as long as a hotel isn't considered a proprietor of "mass-produced hospitality" — as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has said publicly in previous discussions — it will be allowed to list its rooms on Airbnb. In a press statement announcing the new partnership, Airbnb said: "Guests can expect the locally influenced and unique accommodations they expect when booking an Airbnb listing."
Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas directed Skift to this page on the Airbnb site, which explains the company's standards for hotels. Some qualifications include access to common gathering areas, personal touches and local influences in guest rooms, and unique design characteristics.
Papas said that nearly half of the world's hotel rooms are managed by small and independent companies rather than large chains.
"Airbnb is excited to work with smaller independent owners and ownership groups to assure guests continue to feel an intimate, special, belonging type of hospitality with every stay," he said. "Smaller independent hotels and B&Bs have always worked towards these same goals and we feel Airbnb is perfectly aligned to bring them the guests they seek."
Mike Ford, managing director of Sydney-based SiteMinder, told Skift that Airbnb will decide which of its 28,000 hotels can list their rooms on Airbnb, but that it's up to each individual property to decide whether or not they want to advertise their rooms on Airbnb. The partnership, he said, "was a no-brainer."
This isn't the first time Airbnb has rolled out the welcome mat for more traditional hospitality providers to use its platform as a distribution channel. In December, the company announced a partnership with the Association of Independent Hospitality Professionals and ThinkReservations that makes it easier for bed-and-
