Airbnb Tests Hotel Integration by Adding Some HotelTonight Partners
Photo Credit: Shown is a business traveler guest of Airbnb. The company is working with some HotelTonight properties to add them to the Airbnb platform. Airbnb
Skift Take
It will be tremendously complex for Airbnb to transition from an alternative accommodations site into one that also offers lots of hotels. The coming business model changes and technology challenges will get sorted out, but it will be rocky for quite some time.
The next phase in Airbnb's growth and breadth of offerings is taking shape as it begins to add a limited number of hotels that also participate in newly acquired HotelTonight.
The move comes in tandem with Airbnb eliminating guest fees on new hotel listings as a way to get more competitive with Booking Holdings, and to be more consistent with the way travelers are accustomed to booking hotels.
For now, Airbnb is not at the point that it is taking HotelTonight hotel partners and integrating them onto Airbnb's platform at scale, but it is testing the process with some HotelTonight partners to see what works best. It wouldn't be an automatic transition, regardless, as HotelTonight's boutique property partners would still have control over whether they want to distribute through Airbnb.
The move to eliminate guest-booking fees, and to implement a host-only fee model for all hotels that newly sign up to the Airbnb platform — except in China — starting June 4 is part of Airbnb's
