Travel Policy
3 tips on driving business travel program adoption
Looking for creative ways to drive employee adoption of Airbnb for Work? Learn how industry colleagues have succeeded with just a few simple strategies.
1. Communicate and incentivize
Box, a cloud management and file sharing service for businesses, used incentives to jump-start employee sign-ups when they first added Airbnb to their travel program. “When we first rolled out Airbnb we did a promotion where Box travelers were entered to win an Airbnb gift card if they signed up by a certain date,” said Rachel Ersted, former Treasury Analyst at Box.
After their initial incentive promotion, Box used ongoing internal communications to reinforce the benefits of booking with Airbnb and share tips on how to use the platform. A mention in the company’s first-annual travel newsletter, for example, proved to be successful in driving adoption by business travelers.
“We didn’t offer any incentive there, but we saw an increase in adoption,” Ersted said. “Any time we blast out information on our Airbnb partnership, I see an increase in the number of signups.” She added, “Airbnb is really great at partnering with companies, and making sure that the implementation is tailored to the needs of that company. It makes adoption fun and simple.”
Elena Warburton, Director of Global Travel at RingCentral Inc., a cloud communications provider, also conducted “a major promotion among our top travelers; sales travel the most in RingCentral, just like in many other companies. I was able to get into the sales extended executive leadership meeting where we had about 50 leaders of each sales team all present, and also their teams called in,” she said.
“I announced a raffle, where everybody who signed up for Airbnb for Work within a certain time period would be entered into a drawing. First prize was a $200 certificate from Airbnb and there were two more $50 certificates for second and third place winners.”
2. Encourage sign-ups on an ongoing basis
For some of our customers, periodic communications that encourage employees to sign up for Airbnb for Work have proven to be effective ways to increase adoption.
“I do a bimonthly travel update that I send out to the company so I will frequently plug our preferred partnerships with Airbnb and other travel companies we do business with in the newsletter to make sure people have signed up,” said Brandon Gries, Travel and Event Coordinator for Hudl, a software company that provides online tools for coaches and athletes.
3. Make sure new employees are aware they can book accommodations with Airbnb for Work
To grow your travel program, educate your business travelers on the benefits of booking with Airbnb for Work with each internal touchpoint—from new hire orientations to company meetings.
At RingCentral, Warburton promotes Airbnb for Work sign-ups and bookings to new employees. “I always position Airbnb as one of the things that is part of the program,” she said. “I have Airbnb slides on my deck showing how people can register, and how to make sure they book Airbnb under their RingCentral email address.”
Meanwhile, at Hudl, Gries explains the company’s travel program to all new employees. “Then I send a follow-up email when I’m done with that session with a list of our few preferred travel vendors, including Airbnb,” Gries said.
“I am adamant with them that they have to go through the instructions and sign up with all of these vendors so everybody is ready to go,” he added. “I emphasize to them to get all of that done the first week they start so they are ready to go when it’s time to travel.”
