On Wednesday, serviced apartments provider BridgeStreet Global
Hospitality announced it had entered into an exclusive partnership
with Airbnb. It’s the first time a deal has been struck between the
sharing-economy housing provider and a serviced apartments company—or any
global lodging brand, for that matter. The companies are in test mode, adding a
portion of BridgeStreet’s portfolio of 50,000 units to the Airbnb for Business
platform, but they expect to go live for bookings in “30 to 40 days,”
BridgeStreet CEO Sean Worker told BTN
lodging editor Julie Sickel.
How will this partnership work?
We're going to a mutual agreement where we will actually put our branded
product onto the Airbnb for Business platform. Equally, we have a unique
relationship where we have the rights to use the Airbnb marks and do a
pass-through choice offering to our clients within the business-ready realm of
Airbnb. So they would actually be able to experience Airbnb, but BridgeStreet
would be responsible for ensuring that the corporate [service-level agreements]
and the other types of agreements we have, such as consolidated billing and
data management, are covered. In the event the relationship comes to us
through Airbnb, we will be dealing with
that customer directly, ensuring they would get all the services and the
experience you would expect from a brand such as ours in that medium.
How are you ensuring that the quality of Airbnb business-ready
properties is up to BridgeStreet standards?
We're relying on Airbnb, as they enhance their business offering,
to continue to validate that [keys will be available on time, apartments will
be clean and comfortable and the Internet will work] at properties within their
system. We’re in a trust relationship. Airbnb continues to enhance their
business-ready product, which they've put a lot of work into to ensure that
those four elements are delivered on their platform, just as much as they would
be with the BridgeStreet portfolio that's loaded onto the Airbnb platform.
How are you handling the legal landscape around Airbnb?
As we do with all of our properties, we'll comply with all local
jurisdictional permissions. If it's a 30-day minimum, we'll comply with a 30-day
minimum stay, and if it's less than that, we'll comply.
How long has this deal been in the works?
A number of months, if not close to a year, as we've been getting to
know each other. Culturally, we fit very well, and they’re a great partner. The
relationship is centered on choice, and choice is a natural extension of an
experience. They're certainly a leader in the sharing economy and we're a
leader in the experiential economy, and they look for the same types of experiences
in neighborhoods as we do. Our corporate clients, as well as our leisure
clients, are looking for choice, and that's a natural extension for us because
of the types of brands that we have in place; this is a natural extension for
some alternative choice.
From the distribution side, does this fill in the gaps of your own
platform?
Actually, we also went live [on Wednesday] with real-time booking on our own site. We’re the first in this space to actually deliver the reservation in a mode that you would expect from a hotel product. Our platform has become significantly more robust, both from real-time booking to distribution. It's now possible to book direct in less than 30 seconds across our portfolio; that's a real differentiator. So yes, it is part of distribution, but it's equally part of building out BridgeStreet as a global brand with a hospitality platform that has lots of experiences on it.