Perk has integrated Airbnb into its business travel platform.
Business travellers can now search for Airbnb accommodation directly within Perk, with real-time pricing and availability. The integration is particularly appealing to companies organising extended business stays and keen to maintain control over travel expenses.
The business travel and expense management platform Perk has expanded its collaboration with Airbnb by introducing a direct API integration. This allows users to search for and select apartments, houses and other accommodation options from Airbnb's offering without leaving the Perk system.
According to the company, this is the first integration of Airbnb's business travel API of its kind. The new feature builds on the partnership that Perk and Airbnb established in early 2025.
Until now, Perk users have booked Airbnb accommodation through the support service, which required additional steps. The new feature allows them to view listings, photos, prices and availability within the same system in which staff organise flights, hotel accommodation and train travel.
Demand for Airbnb accommodation is growing, especially for longer stays.
Perk has published data explaining why he decided to further develop his collaboration with Airbnb.
According to the company's data, the number of nights booked via Airbnb through Perk has risen by 94% over the past two years. The average Airbnb stay lasts nine nights, or more than four times longer than the average hotel stay booked on the same platform.
The choice of accommodation type is also interesting. Since January 2024, as many as 78% of Airbnb bookings through Perk have been for entire houses or apartments, rather than individual rooms.
Such a booking pattern shows that private accommodation on business trips is not necessarily used as a substitute for a conventional hotel during shorter official visits.
According to Perko's data, demand is primarily generated by medium and large enterprises, particularly in the professional services and manufacturing sectors. Their employees often travel for multi-day projects, fieldwork or extended client assignments.
For such stays, an apartment with a kitchen, a workspace and the capacity to accommodate multiple employees can be more practical than several separate hotel rooms.
What does integration bring to companies and employees?
The advantage for business travellers is a simpler search for different types of accommodation. Airbnb's offering is integrated into the existing travel-planning process, and the chosen accommodation can be linked to the rest of the itinerary.
For companies, the second part of the integration is more important – managing official travel policies and monitoring expenditure.
Airbnb bookings go through Perk's approval system, enabling compliance with internal travel policies to be verified. Meanwhile, finance teams gain an overview of accommodation costs alongside other travel expense categories.
However, integration does not mean that all steps are fully automated. According to Perk's official instructions, once the necessary approval has been granted, their customer service completes the booking. Communication with the host and check-in information remain available through the Airbnb app.
The new feature is being rolled out gradually, so it is not yet available to all Perk users.
What does this mean for the business travel market?
For TMCs and business travel technology providers, this integration demonstrates how the accommodation supply structure within corporate booking systems is changing.
Traditional hotel facilities remain an important part of business travel, but certain categories of travellers have different needs. This is particularly evident in longer-term projects, temporary employee relocations and work at remote locations.
For online booking tools (OBTs), this raises questions about the breadth of content they can offer users, as well as how alternative accommodation fits into corporate policies, reservation approvals and expense reporting.
On the other hand, business users must also take into account operational differences compared with hotels when choosing private accommodation, such as cancellation policies, invoicing, check-in procedures and the availability of support.
Perkova's integration shows that alternative accommodation is gradually finding its place within organised corporate travel, especially where the length of stay and the nature of the work justify a different choice of accommodation.
