Skift Take
The uptake of vacation rentals for business travel depends on proving safety and reliability to road warriors and travel managers.
A number of travel management companies and corporations are starting to allow vacation rentals as accommodations, but there’s room for growth.
A recent Mastercard survey found 53% of those involved in coordinating travel say their companies allow them to book vacation rentals.
Sabre’s Global Distribution System lists over 400,000 accommodations beyond hotels. Sabre also manages corporate booking tool GetThere, meaning those going on business trips can stay in these properties.
“The interest from our agency partners on this segment has been increasing, and we have been selectively adding more supply in this category based on their needs,” a Sabre spokesperson wrote to Skift. “The booking volume compared to hotels is still low, but the growth is encouraging and is in the high double digits compared to the same timeframe last year.”
Corporate travel and technology company BizAway spotted a “noticeable trend of increasing preference for short-term rentals among travelers.”
A desire for flexibility, which mostly started around the pandemic, has impacted office and corporate travel culture. Vacation rentals could help meet this growing demand as some travelers want to extend business trips or “work from anywhere,” said Chad Wallace, global head of commercial solutions at Mastercard.
Skift Research surve