Airbnb Revives Hotel Strategy, Moves Closer To Rival OTA Model

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has repeatedly talked up the importance of flexibility, saying on the company’s second quarter earnings call, “flexibility is now a permanent part of travel.”

In May, the company added options to create flexibility for guests – giving them the ability to search without fixed dates, destinations or property parameters.

Now Airbnb is testing a new API-powered display that gives channel managers and distribution platforms the ability load multiple rates plans for Airbnb properties – creating flexibility for both travelers and hosts and potentially making the platform more attractive to traditional hotels – and more directly in competition with online travel agencies such as Booking.com.

Italy-based RoomCloud, a channel manager and booking engine for hotels and rentals, began discussing rate plans with Airbnb in April and started assisting with the development of the beta product in July, according to the company’s marketing manager, Silvia Gualano.

“The main goal of Airbnb is to propose it to hotels,” Gualano says.

“It can work for hotels and apartments, but it’s even more interesting for hotels because they are more used to working with rate plans on other OTAs like Booking.com or Expedia. So it’s like Airbnb wants to propose as a general OTA not just for vacation rentals.”

Gualano says owners can define a series of rate plans – for example offering room-only and room with breakfast – and Airbnb will show a maximum of two, the cheapest option that is refundable and the cheapest option that is non-refundable.