Airbnb Opens A New Door By Acquiring Urbandoor

The online hospitality service brokerage company Airbnb has reportedly acquired Urbandoor, a platform that offers premium serviced apartments to corporate clients.

The terms of the agreement have not been revealed yet, but sources confirm that all existing Urbandoor’s employees will join Airbnb. Through this acquisition, Airbnb will target corporate clients and extend its services to extended stays. 

Founded in 2015, Urbandoor has apartments from more than 1500 cities across 60 countries listed in their platform. Though Urbandoor works in the same marketplace as that of Airbnb, yet there are some key differences in their working model.

It is those differences that drew Airbnb to Urbandoor. Urbandoor targets business travelers and offers extended stays. Since their revenue model works around corporate clients, most of the apartments listed on their platform are fully furnished with all premium amenities. 

David Holyoke, Work Global Head of Airbnb, stated that this acquisition would give a complete picture and would be a significant improvement for the company in terms of 1-2 night stay to 30 plus stay. While Airbnb has made a name for itself in the market, it has only focused on budget short term stays. 

The other key difference that sets the two apart is that while Airbnb was focused on renters, Urbandoor directly negotiated with real estate companies and brought building owners onboard their platform.

Greg Greeley, President of Homes at Airbnb, quoted, “Airbnb is partnering with property owners, developers, and residents to support hosting around the world.”

He further stated that they would build on the work done by Urbandoor and would improve the guest booking experience of business travelers by employing cutting edge technology.

Corporate bookings account for 15 percent of the total bookings done on the Airbnb platform and have increased 3x times in the last few years. According to Airbnb, 500,000 companies use their platform for bookings. Through this acquisition, Airbnb has opened a new door that would enable it to scale up its growth and bring more corporate clients onboard.