Airbnb looks to be focusing on what the hotel industry perceived was its safe ##st sector - business travellers . People who booked on Airbnb, the argument went, were casual vacationers. High profile partnerships with American Express Global Business Travel ( AmEx GBT ) , BCD Travel , and Carlson Wagonlit Travel are expected to funnel customers towards Airbnb , which has been added to AmEx GBT 's preferred brand list . AmEx GBT reported sales of $ 30bn in 2015 and its clients include Microsoft , McKinsey , and IBM . Similarly , Carlson Wagonlit reported sales of $ 24.2bn in 2015 , 80 % of which came from corporate bookings ; and BCD Travel $ 23.8bn . Despite currently only making up a fraction of Airbnb 's overall bookings , the hotel industry can ill afford to ignore the rising challenge of Airbnb for customers .
Airbnb looks to be focusing on what the hotel industry perceived was its safe ##st sector - business travellers . High profile partnerships with American Express Global Business Travel ( AmEx GBT ) , BCD Travel , and Carlson Wagonlit Travel are expected to funnel customers towards Airbnb , which has been added to AmEx GBT 's preferred brand list . AmEx GBT reported sales of $ 30bn in 2015 and its clients include Microsoft , McKinsey , and IBM . Similarly , Carlson Wagonlit reported sales of $ 24.2bn in 2015 , 80 % of which came from corporate bookings ; and BCD Travel $ 23.8bn . Despite currently only making up a fraction of Airbnb 's overall bookings , the hotel industry can ill afford to ignore the rising challenge of Airbnb for customers .