There is definitely a market for this, especially in a city like Manhattan where business rate hotels are hard to come by and can be inconveniently located compared to an AirBnB. When we have remote workers come visit us we put them up in an AirBnB that is a 5-minute walk from the office to get better, more spacious accommodations than a hotel for under $200 (which is for an entire apartment, not just a room). And who needs room service when you have Seamless, Postmates, Caviar, etc.
The only downside to AirBnB is the lack of daily housekeeping. Maybe there is room for a 3rd party service that caters exclusively to AirBnB hosts to provide regular housekeeping.
That all said, I'm not sure what this "Business Travel" service provides that you can't get from a regular booking. Is this just a shared AirBnB account for teams? Are there special business rates or liability insurance policies associated with it? This page does a fairly poor job of explaining the merits of creating a business account with them.
That's not the only downside. There's a freaking enormous downside for large corporations, and that's their inability to centrally manage vendor relationships with large chains. For example, my company spends about 2500 nights/yr here: http://www.itchotels.in/hotels/itcgrandchola.aspx
As a result, we were able to negotiate a rate down from about 12,000INR/night to about 6500INR/night. The hotel is huge, has every amenity (in India, especially if you're flying solo, most business travelers are not likely to venture outside the hotel for dinner), is close to the office, and we're only paying about US$100/night.
I think Manhattan may be one of the few cities where this legitimately makes sense (due to general lack of hotels, or price gouging). SF, perhaps, but it depends where you're going to be for work and whether there are any huge conferences going on at the same time. One year at Dreamforce I booked late and ended up in a shared room at a craptastic rundown place near the Embarcadero. Perhaps not typical, but it does happen.
$100/night is astronomical compared to most Airbnb listings in India. You can get much nicer accommodations for half the price, and you don't need to be a large corporation to negotiate a package deal for it.
When I travel for work, I often add additional time onto my trip to explore where I visit. Sometimes people don't have a sense of adventure, and this may not be for them. For people like this I believe you are correct, they will not enjoy this program.
I definitely agree that how much this makes sense depends on the city where you are located. As you said, Manhattan is probably one of the only cities where it does.
Otherwise in most cities: Hotels are more conveniently located, better serviced, much better priced, much easier to deal with, etc. etc.
>The only downside to AirBnB is the lack of daily housekeeping.
Is this really an issue for most people? I haven't ever stayed in an AirBnB but I've stayed in B&B's or similar (without the second B) that charged a one-time cleaning fee for the stay but not daily room service. (Presumably you could pay for additional cleanings if you wanted.)
Interestingly, at one point, Starwood was offering points for forgoing daily maid service but I only ran across that a couple of times and then they must have discontinued the experiment.
I think that comes down to personal preference at the end of the day. I tend to be very tidy/neat, especially when I travel, which negates the need for daily housekeeping.
I know some people who are not that way that need more regular housekeeping, and prefer hotels because they provide that service. (Even though there is little to no guarantee that the housekeeping in a business-rate hotel will be any good.)
I would say the bigger problem isn't whether or not it is necessary for most people, but rather about breaking expectations. Many people have become so accustomed to daily housekeeping services in hotels that expect it as the norm.
No one has ever accused me of being tidy/neat :-) but I also don't fling stuff all over the room and, I guess, I'm perfectly fine with the towels and sheets being no more rumpled than they are at home.
The fact that the SPG experiment was apparently short-lived however suggests that you're probably right that this isn't how most people want the hotel experience to be.
The only downside to AirBnB is the lack of daily housekeeping. Maybe there is room for a 3rd party service that caters exclusively to AirBnB hosts to provide regular housekeeping.
That all said, I'm not sure what this "Business Travel" service provides that you can't get from a regular booking. Is this just a shared AirBnB account for teams? Are there special business rates or liability insurance policies associated with it? This page does a fairly poor job of explaining the merits of creating a business account with them.