Overview: What’s Airbnb for Work?
Airbnb for Work is a dashboard designed for small business travel. It’s a simple but powerful interface that addresses pain points of booking traditional lodging for teams.
When you sign-up as a business, you’ll have access to travel reports, invoices, expense reports, and can even set limits on how much an employee can spend per night – right down to custom limits for specific cities. So you can set the maximum at, say, $75 a night in Kansas City, and $150 a night for somewhere typically more expensive, like New York or San Francisco.
So while ease-of-use is a big factor, other advantages are saving money andpromoting team collaboration, which are huge wins.
You’ll save money by not having to pay for multiple rooms like you would with traditional hotels. Instead, you can book a big place with several rooms for one set nightly price – which on average is 50% cheaper! Most places come with a kitchen, work spaces, and a living room, so you’ll also save on eating out and paying for multiple Wi-Fi passes.
Plus, everyone will have their own room to work and sleep, and be more available for team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and social gatherings. That leads to more comfort, and ultimately, increased employee happiness – which is a remarkable benefit.
Many Fortune 500 companies, like Dominos, Hyundai, and PayPal, use Airbnb for Work for team lodging. Airbnb locations are in ~200 countries around the world.
And it doesn’t always have to be for work! You can rent a cottage, cabin, or castle (!) for a team retreat, or just to get away for a while.
Advantages of Airbnb for Work
1. You Can Save Nearly 50% Compared to Hotels
In addition to making it easier to book team travel, you can also save a lot of money. Airbnbs for teams are 49% cheaper on average for travel within the US. And depending where you need to go, you can save over 50% on lodging, especially internationally.
Companies Stand to Save Big Money on Team Travel With Airbnb for Work
Which makes sense, because booking multiple hotel rooms can get expensive quickly. If you can book one place with extra bedrooms, you’re only paying one total cost per night.
2. Airbnb Encourages Team Building and Collaboration
The other advantage to Airbnb for Work is the opportunity to have your team in the same place, but with enough privacy so everyone feels like they have their own space.
When you can hang out in the living room, instead of a hotel lobby, your team can bond faster with fewer distractions. And having a full kitchen to cook meals encourages folks to spend more time in shared spaces. That’s also helpful for meetings or brainstorming sessions – or even a company retreat. All of these promote team building and collaboration, which leads to overall employee happiness.
Airbnb Experiences Can Be a Fun Way to Build Team Camaraderie
Plus, you can book Airbnb Experiences to arrange activities off-site, like sailing, pastry-making classes, a canoe trip, and much more, to bring your team together even more.
3. Airbnb for Work Offers a Travel Management Corporate Dashboard
Airbnb knows business travelers need easy ways to book and pay for their stays, keep track of employee spending, and generate invoices. The Airbnb for Work dashboard accomplishes this.
The Corporate Dashboard allows you to easily reserve stays for your team, so there’s no need for your employees to book their own reservation. You’re also able to directly reimburse your employees for their paid stays, and pay any outstanding invoices related to the stay.
The Airbnb for Work Dashboard Is Separate From a Personal Airbnb Account
We’ll talk about the dashboard more in just a bit!
4. Airbnb for Work Is Great for Long-Term Projects or Employee Relocation
Instead of bland corporate housing, you could consider a long-term stay for big projects or to facilitate employee relocation. It doesn’t have to be for just short stays. In fact, you can usually save even more for a longer booking!
Airbnb offers travelers certain amenities that most hotels simply do not. You’ll have an entire house/apartment to yourself, which goes a long way toward preventing the development of claustrophobia. And a full kitchen at your disposal is a welcome convenience for folks who don’t want to eat at a restaurant every single day.
5. Airbnb for Work’s Standards & Host Expectations
Airbnb requires hosts to meet certain standards before their listing will appear as work-ready. To satisfy Airbnb’s requirements, hosts have to ensure their home has:
- Guaranteed constant Wi-Fi
- Laptop-friendly work spaces
- Travel essentials like basic toiletries, iron, hair dryer, and hangers
- Self check-in with a keypad code or lock box
- Flexible and/or free cancellations
In addition to the requirements above, each work-friendly listing must have at least an average 4.8 rating (out of 5), and at least 5 reviews.
