Airbnb Reverses Strategy in Return to Affiliate Partnerships With Big Players
Photo Credit: Airbnb hosts invite guests to stay in their rental on an island off of the coast of Portugal. Airbnb is seeking partnerships with large websites to further its sales strategy. Airbnb
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The homesharing giant is only partnering with websites that attract at least a million visitors a month. Airbnb is calculating that the revenue upside would be worth the brand sacrifice that comes with affiliate marketing.
In somewhat of a strategy reversal, Airbnb is once again giving selected third-party websites a chance to take a cut of its bookings by posting links to its roster of vacation- and apartment-rental properties.
This commission-generating business model, called affiliate marketing, means that many of Airbnb's 4 million listings will become more broadly visible beyond the confines of the San Francisco-based company's website and mobile app.
The advantage of affiliate marketing for a player such as Airbnb is that it would boost revenue while the disadvantages are that Airbnb would have to share that revenue with a third party, and these types of relationships come at the expense of promot
