As short-term stay options enter into the corporate lodging landscape, road warriors are no longer restricted to business hotels or serviced residences. What are sharing-economy companies doing to court this segment and how are traditional suppliers and TMCs viewing the new players?

From left: a San Francisco apartment catering to Airbnb’s business travellers; a London house listed on onefinestay

Airbnb
Jia Jih Chai
Managing director, South-east Asia & India

What is the share of business travellers in your business and how has this segment grown? Which market is showing strong potential? The corporate travel space is a market with enormous untapped potential and definitely a fast-growing segment for Airbnb. Frequent corporate travellers are increasingly seeking ways in which they can redefine their business trips, including sourcing accommodation in close proximity to meetings or even a space within a local neighbourhood that feels just like home overseas.

In fact, nearly 10 per cent of Airbnb users already travel for business. As a result of such growing demands, we launched Business Travel on Airbnb last year – essentially a dedicated site that offers specific amenities and filtered options tailored to business travellers’ needs.

While we know that Airbnb probably isn’t for every road warrior, we are seeing people turn to our offerings as a great option for larger groups, longer stays and relocations.

What trade partnerships do you have? Airbnb has most recently launched a partnership with Concur, which provides an integrated business travel experience for users. The ultimate aim of this partnership is to provide greater convenience for employees by facilitating the tedious process of submitting travel expenses for trips booked on Airbnb. Business travellers who use Concur’s TripLink service will be able to book directly on Airbnb, while having their expense reports and itineraries automatically pre-populated on Concur.

In addition, prior to the launch of Business Travel on Airbnb, we also worked closely with Salesforce to shape our business travel approach.

Which companies are keener to use your services? To date, more than 60 companies, large and small, are already using the Airbnb business portal, including Evernote, Eventbrite, Lyft and Vox Media, amongst others. With Concur providing business travel services to more than 70 per cent of Fortune 100 companies, we expect the partnership to further boost business travel via Airbnb.

The service is now available in the UK and Australia, with more countries in Europe expected to roll out the integration in 2015.

What are your strengths over traditional suppliers? How will your services improve business travel? Airbnb allows business people to enjoy the comfort and amenities they are used to at home, including listings with a gourmet kitchen for cooking with colleagues, larger homes for family companions or group getaways, and even a homier neighbourhood for extended stays.

Location is also a significant deciding factor for business travellers on Airbnb. With listings in over 500,000 locations worldwide, business people can now find a space with convenient proximity to meetings or one that makes after-work (hours) feel like vacation. Furthermore, Airbnb’s listings also present an opportunity for businesses to take their meetings out of the boardrooms and into an inspiring new space.

With the Concur integration, business travellers can look forward to hassle-free trips by managing their budgets and submitting expenses on the road, so that they can return to clear desks and fresh opportunities. It also provides employers and business travel managers with complete visibility into itineraries and expenses under one consolidated view.

How are you marketing to business travellers? As businesses increasingly seek new ways of travelling to meet specific needs, such as longer stays and meeting spaces, Airbnb is certainly fast emerging as a viable accommodation option. As mentioned, we launched a dedicated Airbnb portal for business travellers as well as a partnership with Concur last year to cater to such growing demands.

What challenges are there in attracting the business travel market? The one key criterion that’s critical for many business travellers today is consistency, especially in terms of the delivery of product. In order to ensure that only suitable accommodation is offered to corporate travellers, not all properties on Airbnb are included under our business listings. Rather, the portal only shows listings that have features and facilities critical to business travellers, such as wireless Internet and whole apartments or houses for privacy. Moreover, Airbnb also offers variety and depth of amenities, which cater to varying traveller needs.

Roomorama
Jia En Teo
co-founder (left)

What is the share of business travellers in your business and how has this segment grown? Which market is showing strong potential? About 30-40 per cent are business travellers. This segment has grown by about 20 per cent over the past year. We’re seeing strong potential in cities like Tokyo, New York and London.

What trade partnerships do you have? We have exclusive deals running with some large companies that promote Roomorama as a resource for their employees to book longer stays when they have work assignments abroad.

Which companies are keener to use your services? We work with co-working spaces as well as international corporations. We also have a significant number of SME employees and freelancers in technology and creative industries, to name a few, who use Roomorama for their business travel. We are seeing a wide range of companies, not just what we think may be the usual suspects that look for alternatives to the standard hotel options.

What are your strengths over traditional suppliers? How will your services improve business travel? Business travellers prize features that increase their productivity – amenities that help them work faster and more effectively. Unsurprisingly, free Wi-Fi tops this list. While hotels have faced criticism in recent years for continuing to charge guests for Wi-Fi, 99.9 per cent of properties on Roomorama offer free Wi-Fi. This makes booking with us very attractive to the business traveller who prioritise getting online as soon as they arrive rather than unpack.

Second on the list is proximity to the office or meeting venues. A large majority of Roomorama properties are concentrated in the city centres of popular urban destinations like New York and London. For the business traveller, this convenience makes the location ideal since it shortens their daily commute.

Roomorama offers quality, instant confirmation and value for money for business travellers. We work with corporate partners like property managers to offer professionally managed properties for our guests. These properties are mostly full-service apartments or houses available for instant bookings and confirmation.

Roomorama’s full-service apartments appeal to business travellers since having a home away from home makes business travel efficient, reliable and, of course, comfortable.

How are you marketing to business travellers? Business travellers are booking directly on our website, especially if they have booked through us before on their own personal trips, and Roomorama guests enjoy US$50 off their second booking with us. We are also planning to introduce a loyalty programme where guests will enjoy an attractive discount when he/she has booked more than 21 nights with us within a year.

What challenges are there in attracting the business travel market? Business travellers demand value for money and a hassle-free experience. At Roomorama, we are constantly working to offer competitive rates and making the booking process simple and seamless.

One Fine Stay
Hugo Jenkins
Head of global sales

What is the share of business travellers in your business and how has this segment grown? Which market is showing strong potential? onefinestay appeals to everyone from well-heeled families on holiday to frequent business travellers. The concept appeals to those seeking a more authentic experience when they travel to a city, and anyone who really appreciates the space, along with the character, of real homes. Our guests tend to be well-travelled and like to travel well, and we find that business travellers especially appreciate the seamlessness of settling into a home that’s paired with our service. We take care of the things that count – a friendly face to meet you, beds made with pristine sheets, and towels and toiletries taken care of to our exacting standards.

What trade partnerships do you have? We work with a variety of travel partners including top-tier entertainment agencies, PA networks, corporate TMCs, global mobility companies and film accommodation agents.

Which companies are keener to use your services? Our pioneering brand of upscale hospitality has particular appeal for film, fashion and music companies. For these companies, corporate travel often involves longer stays, during which the comfort of feeling at home in the city is invaluable.

What are your strengths over traditional suppliers? How will your services improve business travel? Particularly for longer business trips, the traditional 20m2 hotel room can be a bit of a squeeze to say the least. Staying in a real home, with the space, comfort and character that come with it, is an attractive alternative. The great thing about onefinestay is that the selection of homes is curated – each one has been inspected by our team – and they’re attentively tended too, with pristine linens, towels and toiletries, and a complimentary iPhone for data and local calls. Once we’ve helped guests settle in, we’re just a call away, 24/7. We think of it as the best of both worlds.

How are you marketing to business travellers? We’ve created a Work Folio designed to facilitate browsing onefinestay’s collection of homes. The Work Folio highlights well-connected locations and homes perfectly suited to work and leisure. We also have preferential rates for corporate partners.

InterContinental Hotels Group
Nick Barton
Chief commercial officer, Asia, Middle East and Africa

Are your properties impacted by sharing-economy services? Short-term online rental companies are innovative new players in the market, providing a service which suit a certain profile of guests, and this model is gaining popularity amongst those travellers. The hospitality industry is dynamic and always evolving with new choices for consumers; it is and has always been competitive, so we’re used to that.

What are you doing to tackle this? At IHG, we have award-winning internal controls, processes and procedures in place to identify, assess, prioritise and mitigate risks to the guests who stay in our 690,000 rooms globally. These often go beyond the requirements set out in national law. As short-term online rental companies evolve, we urge regulators and legal authorities to consider how to protect guests around issues such as fire and life safety, food safety, security issues and cleanliness. Lack of enforcement of existing standards, and lack of awareness among hosts about their legal responsibilities and obligations present a serious challenge.
Trust in a brand is a key factor for building loyalty and relationships with customers, and this is what we are focused on doing with our 82 million IHG Rewards Club members. Our strategy remains unchanged – we are committed to delivering consistent guest experiences to everyone who stay with us.

Ascott
Tony Soh
Chief corporate officer

Are your properties impacted by sharing-economy services? Our serviced residences cater mainly to expatriates, project teams and business travellers who stay for a month or more. Ascott’s core customers are very different from those targeted by sharing-economy providers.

In addition, sharing-economy providers do not own any properties and they merely offer a platform to connect those who need accommodation with those with space to let out, which means that there will be wide variations in terms of what customers may encounter.

There will always be a segment of travellers who prefer the consistency and predictability of branded accommodation. Besides providing guests the comfort of a home away from home, we also offer quality services and peace of mind. We go the extra mile by taking care of our guests’ needs through a range of services such as baby-sitting, meal delivery, 24-hour guest service and security.

What are you doing to tackle this? Ascott focuses on the complete customer experience, which differentiates us from sharing-economy providers who are largely offering a bed for the night.

Extended-stay guests will be assigned a dedicated Ascott Host, available 24 hours a day to provide guests with personalised services. For those visiting a new country, Ascott Hosts will also assist to arrange for their preferred groceries and essential items to be ordered and placed in their apartments before check-in.

We are constantly enhancing the guest experience. From this April, we will roll out Ascott Lifestyle that will provide our guests with more bespoke experiences, – fromq culinary and cultural to local delights and wellness – to choose from.

Frasers Hospitality
Choe Peng Sum
Choe Peng Sum, CEO

Are your properties impacted by sharing-economy services? As a rapidly growing sector, the sharing economy has taken centre stage of news in 2014 with its tremendous growth projections. Of course, being an unregulated option, there are certain risks that need to be taken into consideration and consumers need to be wary and do the necessary research in making their choices.

At Frasers Hospitality, our residents are assured of 24-hour security and CCTV surveillance. They benefit from the central location of our properties, the wide range of business and leisure facilities we provide, the full spectrum of guest service complements, plus the advantage of space with their own living, dining, kitchen and bedroom areas.

As iron sharpens iron, we welcome new players into the (hospitality) marketplace, which has plenty of room for growth.

What are you doing to tackle this? We keep a close watch not only on the competitive landscape, but also continuously improve and innovate our offerings to ensure that we stay compelling and relevant to the global business executive who relies on our brand promise across all of our 50 properties, from London and Shanghai to Sydney.

FCm Travel Solutions
Jane Le Gall
head of product & marketing

Have you incorporated sharing-economy services into your travel programmes? Why or why not? We haven’t incorporated sharing-economy providers into our travel programmes nor have any of our clients either. However, this is a market we are currently looking into and seeing how it fits in with our overall product strategy and offerings.

The majority of managed travel programmes have strict travel policies. The main obstacle for the sharing-economy businesses is to assure companies that their employees are safe and secure while using their services. If they adapt their services to the specific needs of business travellers and position themselves as dedicated partners to companies, they will likely gain greater acceptance as suppliers within the managed business travel industry but not to the degree of making traditional suppliers obsolete.

However, the corporate travel industry is becoming more blended with the retail travel world these days, so I definitely see this as a future corporate booking trend. As the Millennials join the workforce, the sharing-economy model will only strengthen. Our main focus is ensuring the customer receives the service and products requested, and as a TMC we need to constantly be adaptable and flexible with our booking methods.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, March 13, 2015 issue, on page 18. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe

Additional reporting from Xinyi Liang-Pholsena and Hannah Koh

Hong Kong’s private kitchens have taken a turn for the upscale and inventive in recent years, but are tour operators able to grate a bite of this growing culinary concept?

Private kitchens first emerged in Hong Kong in the 1990s, but the trend has grown even stronger in recent years with such establishments clustering in industrial districts like Wong Chuk Hang, Chai Wan and Kwun Tong. Despite their unlikely settings, what sets these private kitchens apart from traditional restaurants are their refined dining experience and lifestyle approach with food at its core, with most venues operated by chefs keen to share their culinary passion and philosophies.

Last October, Xi Yan Penthouse opened to much fanfare in Wong Chuk Hang industrial district. The showpiece project of celebrity chef Jacky Yu, the 557m2 venue features a show kitchen cum chef’s table, plus four spacious dining rooms that can be transformed into a 100-seat banquet space or a cocktail party for 180 guests.

Also in the same district, the 186m2 M Cuisine serves seasonal menus created by chef Michael Erlik, who specialises in contemporary Mediterranean cuisine using traditional cooking methods.

Opened last December, the 139m2 Shuigechufan in Chai Wan is the brainchild of Walter Kei, a travel journalist, designer and tour guide. The venue offers tailor-made cooking classes, including a market tour to pick seasonal ingredients, for groups of 12 to 16 pax.

As private tables typically have limited seats, spots are premium and advance reservations are recommended.

Locals and in-the-know visitors have warmed up to private kitchens, and Hong Kong’s tour operators are also keen to grab a slice of this burgeoning trend.

PC Tours and Travel, general manager, said: “The private kitchen concept is very helpful because this means more choices for itinerary planning. Visitors look for creative and exclusive experiences so we will specially work with venues that also feature cooking classes.”

Associated Tours, vice president, Ken Chang, said: “These private kitchens can be packaged into evening activities, which have been lacking for a long time in Hong Kong…We only do it on an ad-hoc basis for clients with (time, budget and interest for gourmet dining), but (consultants) with a smaller number of (clients) can spend more time on product design and development with private kitchens.

“I can also see problems with getting the private kitchens interested and committed to work with travel (consultants) on a long-term basis. These private kitchens are already very popular among younger locals or visitors who usually will not use the service of a local tour operator.”

For Lightfoot Travel, private kitchens are popular among its UK and US clients as the phenomenon is already established in these countries. Co-founder & director, Lucy Jackson, shared: “Demand has been growing steadily over the past few years as the number of private kitchens in Hong Kong has expanded and become more well known outside of the city.

“We’ve added a number of private kitchens to our restaurant list, so that clients are aware that there are options outside of the main restaurants they have likely heard about. Each of our itineraries is tailor-made, so if a client requests a particular cuisine and is looking for an off-the-beaten-track (experience), then we recommend a restaurant that fits the description to the client.”

Private kitchens have also gathered steam among the city’s MICE operators.

Said Destination Management Company, managing director, Jenny May: “It’s absolutely something different and the clients love it. Cooking classes are very popular with our clients. We steer away from Western food and go with traditional Chinese or dim sum classes. Smaller-size classes of up to 10 people are the best, so if we’re handling a large group we generally split them up into different sessions. Since the clients love to choose the best cook in each session, it’s a good idea to stage a cook-off and present a prize to the winner.

“The only drawback is that sometimes the venue is in a location that’s difficult to get to and find,” she added.

Momentous Asia Travel & Events, general manager, Doris Lam, cautioned: “There are many establishments but our concern is whether they are properly licensed and whether their hygiene and fire service standards are up to par. If there is any accident or, say, a case of food poisoning, the organiser would have to bear the responsibility.”

This article was first published in TTG Asia, March 13, 2015 issue, on page 20. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe