Harking back to the creation of Airbnb by its founders, who wanted to provide accommodation for attendees at events in their hometown of San Francisco, the online marketplace for holiday rental homes has launched the ‘Airbnb for Events’ tool. The tool will offer event organizers and conference planners the ability to create an interactive map of Airbnb listings that are near their venues, and embed the map directly on their event website in just minutes.
On intimating Airbnb about the event, the company will create an interactive map of Airbnb listings for the event website to help attendees find nearby homes. They will also create a personalised landing page for their event on Airbnb.com that event organisers can share with attendees and use to market their event.
With Airbnb, people attending an event will have a broad range of options—from work-friendly to fun and funky.
While this is the perfect tool for events, Airbnb is also working with other companies to showcase the versatility of the interactive listings map- like event registration and ticketing platforms, event management platforms, wedding platforms, and trip planners. Initial partners include Insider, Inspirock, Picatic, RSVPify, Taquilla and WeddingWire. Currently, for corporate travel companies, the service does not integrate with Airbnb’s third-party booking tool.
This is the first concentrated effort from the platform to officially enter the event space, probably angering hotels that host conferences in the process, as it takes attendees out of their properties and into alternative accommodations. On the other hand, properties that list through Airbnb – under its newly developed partnership with Siteminder – will be included in the new listings maps alongside Homes.
Moreover, adding Airbnb as a recommended option for events will add more local accommodation, provides amenities that hotels can’t, and will help attendees save a lot of money. Its selection of more than four million listings in over 65,000 cities provides both prime locations and the comforts of home, allowing guests to see any city from a local perspective. The company will not just help organizers, but also cities to manage some of the biggest events and spread the economic benefits of these events to citizens.
