Today, branded room aggregators are increasingly resorting to Airbnb as a distribution platform to sell their respective inventory via the largest and highest funded room aggregator. Treebo Hotels and Vista Rooms is already using Airbnb to liquidate inventory. It will increase its offerings with hotels being the latest segment to get added to its range of home stay options.
“We are evaluating opportunities with Airbnb but it is up to them to allow us to use our brand. Today, 96 per cent of our bookings come from our own channel and about 4 per cent from external OTAs and with Airbnb, it would serve as an additional distribution channel for us,’’ says Ritesh Agarwal Founder and CEO, Oyo Rooms.
Treebo Hotels, which has about 400 hotels under its brand, is also ready to list its inventory without using its brand on Airbnb. “Since Airbnb has recently started listing hotels on its platform, we are ready to sell our hotels through it. Today, we compete with the likes of Oyo Rooms who also intend using the Airbnb platform,’’ says Sidharth Gupta, Co-Founder, Treebo, a tech-enabled budget hotel aggregator.
Hotel technology and travel distribution solution provider, Axis Rooms, collaborating with Airbnb integrate its platform to incorporate Oyo Rooms and Treebo Hotels.
“Airbnb is emerging as a large global sales channel for all accommodation including such branded room aggregators. They usually sell partial amount of inventory and is different from selling through the traditional OTA(Online travel agents). In Airbnb, every room is a separate listing but in traditional OTA’s, hotels is one listing and rooms come under that. Besides, there is a lot more detailing done on the accommodation in the case of Airbnb.’’ – Anil Kumar Prasanna, CEO, AxisRooms,
AxisRooms is the connected channel manager for Airbnb and manages listing, price and inventory for branded room players like Treebo Hotels and Oyo Rooms, who are being listed on its platform.
Industry observers claim that Airbnb is already threatening to become larger than any hotel company in the next decade considering it has been adding new types of accommodation categories.
“Airbnb has always evolved as a platform. What started as a way to share airbeds evolved to private rooms and then entire spaces. In more recent years, we’ve seen dedicated vacation rentals, B&Bs and boutique hotels join the platform organically. – Amanpreet Bajaj, Country Manager of Airbnb-India added.
Source : https://www.thehindubusinessline.com by PURVITA CHATTERJEE
