San Francisco (TAN): Global home-sharing platform Airbnb has acquired United States-based company Urbandoor that acts as a global online marketplace to rent apartments for travelling professionals. Urbandoor allows professionals to look for accommodations for various kinds of stays including extended business trips, relocations, and other longer-term stays.
Airbnb is trying to expand its listings of corporate-ready stays, something which Urbandoor already offers. Therefore, Airbnb’s purchase of Urbandoor is expected to make it convenient for guests to find long-term stays. Guests who are in the course of relocating or business travellers who look to reserve longer stays opt for serviced apartments as they come with amenities such as gyms, pools, and concierge services. With the acquisition of Urbandoor, Airbnb will be able to offer such options to over 500,000 companies that use Airbnb for Work.
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“Airbnb is partnering with property owners, developers, and residents to support hosting around the world. With the Urbandoor team, we’re looking forward to building on this work by developing new technology to benefit the real estate community and improve the guest booking experience for business travelers and anyone relocating or staying for extended periods of time,” President of Homes, Airbnb, Greg Greeley, said.
Based in San Francisco in United States’ California state, the company was founded in 2015 by Erik Eccles, Benjamin Renaud, and Zack Chandler. Currently, Urbandoor is present in over 1,500 cities in more than 60 countries, the company said.
“We started Urbandoor because we wanted to connect traveling and relocating professionals with the right apartment every time, anywhere. Joining the Airbnb family will help us make good on our goals and expand our work with multifamily and corporate housing partners to bring even more great places to stay to Airbnb travelers,” said Erik Eccles, Co-Founder of Urbandoor.
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“Whether your trip is for work or pleasure, Airbnb can help you feel like you belong anywhere in the world. Regardless of if a guest’s stay is one day, one week, or a few months, we aim to provide them with authentic, local experiences every time. Urbandoor’s strategic relationships with multifamily owners and operators will help us bring magical travel to even more people,” General Manager for Professional Hosting, Airbnb, Clara Liang, said.
All employees of Urbandoor will join Airbnb, and later, guests will be able to book Urbandoor listings for long-term stays through Airbnb.
