Harking back to the creation of Airbnb by its founders, who wanted to provide accommodation for attendees at events in their hometown of San Francisco, the online marketplace for holiday rental homes has launched the ‘Airbnb for Events’ tool. The tool will offer event organizers and conference planners the ability to create an interactive map of Airbnb listings that are near their venues, and embed the map directly on their event website in just minutes.

On intimating Airbnb about the event, the company will create an interactive map of Airbnb listings for the event website to help attendees find nearby homes. They will also create a personalised landing page for their event on Airbnb.com that event organisers can share with attendees and use to market their event.

With Airbnb, people attending an event will have a broad range of options—from work-friendly to fun and funky.

While this is the perfect tool for events, Airbnb is also working with other companies to showcase the versatility of the interactive listings map- like event registration and ticketing platforms, event management platforms, wedding platforms, and trip planners. Initial partners include Insider, Inspirock, Picatic, RSVPify, Taquilla and WeddingWire. Currently, for corporate travel companies, the service does not integrate with Airbnb’s third-party booking tool.

This is the first concentrated effort from the platform to officially enter the event space, probably angering hotels that host conferences in the process, as it takes attendees out of their properties and into alternative accommodations. On the other hand, properties that list through Airbnb – under its newly developed partnership with Siteminder – will be included in the new listings maps alongside Homes.

Moreover, adding Airbnb as a recommended option for events will add more local accommodation, provides amenities that hotels can’t, and will help attendees save a lot of money. Its selection of more than four million listings in over 65,000 cities provides both prime locations and the comforts of home, allowing guests to see any city from a local perspective. The company will not just help organizers, but also cities to manage some of the biggest events and spread the economic benefits of these events to citizens.

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One doesn’t have to be a tech genius to appreciate the convenience it brings into our daily lives. The best kind of travel tech can make travel seamless, especially for business travellers who already have enough on their plate, even when they are on-the-go.

The Scrubba Wash Bag is one such tech invention that has been helping business travellers feel more productive while conducting their business, in different parts of the world. This Australian invention is a portable, mini washing machine that keeps your clothes clean, reducing your baggage load and saving travellers tons of money paying hotel laundry bills.

The story behind its invention

The idea for the Scrubba wash bag was conceived in 2010 when founder Ash Newland took a four-month break from his job as a patent attorney in Australia and decided to travel to Africa to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with a friend.

“During the planning stages for the trip, we realized that with all our cold weather and camping gear, we would only be able to pack a few changes of casual clothes. This led to the issue of how we were going to wash our clothes every couple of days. After mulling over this issue for a few weeks, I was led to the idea of washboards – they have been around for centuries and they work very efficiently. The downside is that they are bulky and still require a sink or bucket. It was then that I had the revelation that if we could incorporate a highly flexible washboard into a waterproof sealable bag, we could change the way people wash clothes while travelling”.

A couple of crude prototypes were constructed just days before leaving Australia and Ash Newland spent each night after work in the week leading up to the trip drafting the provisional patent application.

How does it work?

The Scrubba is a sealable, waterproof bag with an opening at one end, where you put a small amount of clothing, warm water and detergent. You then roll it, push out any excess air, and push down on the bag to rub the clothes against a flexible, internal washboard that is made of strong plastic and has small blunt spikes to create friction and loosen dirt. Once the scrubbing is done, untie the bag, empty the dirty water, rinse the clothes and dry them in the Scrubba Wash & Dry Kit.

The benefit for business travellers

A study released by Carlson Wagonlit Travel from a survey of more than 1,900 global business travellers aged 25-65 shows business travellers are bringing more devices, and feel more productive conducting their business. Most travellers (88%) believe travel is easier to navigate today with technology, with a majority (78%) seeking opportunities to travel for work and just as many (72%) finding business travel to be stimulating.

An invention like Scrubba can reduce the hassles of having to fret over packing too many clothes for different business needs. The Scrubba wash bag when laid flat measures approximately 54 cm x 32 cm (21.3 x 12.6 inches). When rolled and clipped, the dimensions are 16 cm x 6 cm x 6 cm (6.3 x 2.4 x 2.4 inches), thus hardly taking up any space. For business travellers who seek technology that makes things happen faster, the Scrubba, with its time requirement of 40 seconds to a maximum of three minutes, is the best solution. Moreover, at a cost of US$ 55 (starting price), it is also a great alternative to regular and expensive hotel laundry bills for businessmen who are always travelling.

Our verdict

While this was originally designed keeping backpackers in mind, the Scrubba wash bag definitely has become the best way to clean clothes for not just business travellers, but all kinds of travellers. Whether it is about packing light, avoiding laundry costs, or simply having the option to wash clothes wherever you want, the Scrubba wash bag is a piece of travel tech that can save the day and help business travellers stay on top of their game.

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India’s high-powered economy is once again set to lead the way when it comes to global business travel. According to the Global Business Travel Forecast 2018 published by American Express, the outlook for international business travel is generally optimistic. Demand for business travel started to rebound last year, and is expected to grow over the next 12 months.

Despite some missteps in 2017, the Indian economy is the fastest growing in Asia, with its GDP growth set to top 7.4% in 2018. However, the Indian airline industry is growing at an even faster clip as favorable government policies, growing affluence, increased trade, and an aging transportation infrastructure are driving demand. Demand growth in India has been particularly strong on domestic routes. As of October, India’s domestic RPKs were up 15.5% year-over-year, with signs that they were strengthening further. However, overcapacity remains an issue and the country’s LCCs, which represent over 65% of domestic capacity, continue to compete fiercely for business. Plans for expansion among India’s airlines have led to an order book exceeding 1,100 aircraft and the pace of growth is increasingly putting a strain on the country’s airports, with many of the busiest, including Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, at or near saturation. Unlike China, where growth is coming from the connection of new city pairs, India’s expansion is primarily the result of increased frequencies on popular routes, where excess capacity may make weaker operators targets for consolidation. Despite stronger than expected yields in 2017, domestic overcapacity should reduce profits and keep prices flat 2018. International demand is growing more slowly, but remains generally underserved.

Image source: Hotel 115 Christchurch

Economic growth in India is projected to strengthen, and trade openness has also increased, partly driven by a competitive service sector. Demand has surged, creating inventory shortfalls in some of India’s busiest cities, particularly among luxury and upscale properties favored by foreign business travellers.

Indian hotel metrics are predicted to experience a mid-range increase for 2018, but rate changes will likely vary widely by city and property tier. Hotel occupancy rates in India are expected to remain at approximately 65% for the year, but will be much higher in upmarket properties. High levels of duty of care are essential elements of business travel planning throughout the country, with major hoteliers such as Marriot, AccorHotels and Taj dedicating significant resources to ensure traveller safety. Another trend worth noting is that hotels currently being sourced are often outside metropolitan areas, with clients looking for hotels close to partner locations that are away from larger centers.

While India remains dominated by taxi and car service options, ride sharing is an increasingly important component of the ground transportation ecosystem, with Uber and India-based Ola battling fiercely for market share. While Ola has the largest footprint in India, Uber’s presence in the top 30 cities makes it a viable solution for business travellers who will likely not need the full coverage provided by Ola. Car rental companies also continue to see strong growth reflecting higher demand among the burgeoning (and carless) middle class. While there is some demand for rental vehicles from foreign travelers, the availability of cheap transportation options and demanding driving conditions make this the exception rather than the rule.

Read the full report, here.

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Don’t you wish you could have a concierge set up things for you whenever you are at a new destination! Having the 5 star concierge service accessible even when you have rented a wooden house along the beach on Airbnb. Ask PAM offers you exactly the same with the help of qualified concierges accessible through a simple app.

The app provides with professional and personalized service from top local concierges all over the world and on the other end, it allows concierges to make extra money with their skills and expertise outside the hotel or on their spare time. The service is currently in beta now with limited users but the team will open it up to more users soon. Pamela Alfred, the co-founder and CEO of Ask PAM, is a leading expert in private concierge services and luxury lifestyle management for individual, corporate and residential institutions. We recently had a chat with her to learn more about Ask PAM.

Why did you name your startup as “Ask PAM”?

My name is Pam and as the founder and the expert concierge, we were trying to find a way to make the app more human, because this is what we do. We are connecting the travellers with the local concierge that can not only help but also provide a human experience. People always say ‘Ask PAM’ because I am the person who always knows everything in the city – new restaurants, time to the airport, secret spots or parties in the city, you name it. I know it all.

Your primary pitch is that you don’t want your users to stay in 5-star hotels. What is the thought behind it?

We don’t have a problem with five-star hotels. What we want is to make the five-star concierge service available to everyone. Travellers do not need to stay in expensive hotels to have an access to a local, efficient and personalised service.

We assume, you’re tying up with various vendors for concierge services. Do they retain their brand identity or work as private label operators?

Concierge will deliver the same level service they will as working at the hotel. We would expect the same from them working on the Ask PAM platform. The experience is similar but through the app. We do not impose vendors. The concierges use their local network and expertise of their city. We make sure they are qualified as they already have had years of experience in 4-5 star hotels.

Currently, what form of concierge services do you provide?

As said previously, there is no limit to what a concierge can do as long as it is legal, moral and ethical. The main request is the restaurant so far. We have been able to better engage travellers from this type of requests and gain their trust.

Your app is in beta version now. How have the users responded to it?

We are operational in Montreal and Toronto. People love the human touch. Since they know that they are talking to a real expert, the trust is stronger.

Is Ask PAM bootstrapped or externally funded?

We have been bootstrapping and are now starting our seed round as we need to expand in the state. We are also looking at some accelerators in the states.

Ask PAM is a highly useful application for the business travellers who seek personalised and efficient local assistance. Do try out the application here. To learn more, visit their website www.ask-pam.com.

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