Concur Fusion 2015: Airbnb HQ Tour
Anna Barnett 1 Apr 2015Concur, one of the largest and most widely-used providers of Travel and Expense technology, had a few lucky members of the Stream Team out to San Francisco this week for Concur Fusion 2015. Concur is known not only for being one of the biggest T&E software developers, but also one of the most innovative. Some of their stand-out features include their robust pre-booking engine, their itinerary tool, and their OCR-based e-receipt functionality.
Concur works hard to be dynamic in all areas of their business. Over the years, they have partnered with many other innovators in the travel and hospitality industry to round out their travel booking and itinerary capabilities. Integrations with progressive services like Uber have really expanded the possibilities of versatility and value for corporate travelers.
We got to see one of the innovative partnerships first hand during an exciting tour of the Airbnb San Francisco headquarters. Concur linked platforms with Airbnb last year, and with this integration corporate travelers on Concur’s TripLink portal can select hotels and homes for rental from Airbnb. This integration is especially useful for travelers on medium and long-term assignments that are seeking extended housing alternatives.
The tour was enthralling. The working atmosphere was relaxing and inspiring, and the grounds were beautiful. Airbnb HQ even has conference rooms that are all modeled after real host properties that traveling employees can rent. We caught a little bit of the Rio De Janeiro room on camera!
Like all of the apps in Concur’s App Center, this Airbnb integration doesn’t take a lot of work- users’ data will automatically sync with their profiles, enabling them to simply add on the application and get to work. Business policies are also integrated into user selection, so users won’t be able go out and book yachts for lodging—unless of course that option is in their company travel policy. In addition, travel managers like Airbnb accommodations because the alternative housing options are sometimes up to 40% cheaper than hotels. This platform will also offer users valuable data that they didn’t necessarily have before, since almost every transaction involves an after-stay review. This helps with improving both selection and smart spending.
The partnership has been successful so far. Since their integration with Concur, Airbnb reports that 160,000 of their 1 million host properties now have instant booking. This is an astounding number, but it doesn’t surprise us. Both Airbnb and Concur are innovative and remarkable in their fields—it only makes sense that they would team up and see these results.
We’re having a great time at Concur Fusion so far. Look out for more on this event from the StreamTeam over the next several days!
