As Summer 2020 is supposed to be about domestic travel and drive-to destinations, Airbnb has launched an impressive global campaign called Airbnb: Go Near. Not only does the Airbnb campaign recommend peaceful destinations and family-friendly homes nearby, but also it has partnered with 15 local organizations such as Visit Florida and VisitDenmark around the world to promote domestic travel.
How to find a vacation rental within driving distance?
Several data reports and research pieces show the importance of knowing how to advertise your vacation rental property to domestic travelers for Summer 2020. Airbnb has seen the numbers and went to work, with a campaign that combines new placements for local travel promotion on its website, a global campaign called Airbnb: Go Near, efforts with 15 organizations across the world, as well as a press relation campaign.
Airbnb Go Near campaign on its App and Website
Airbnb’s Go Near is a global merchandising campaign on its website and its app. For instance, on the airbnb.com homepage, you can see an image promoting “nearby getaways.” A click on this image least to a specific Go Near landing page showing different destinations, depending on where in the world you are accessing the website.
The Go Near page promotes nearby peaceful destinations, family-friendly vacation rentals, and easy-to-cancel properties, all of which sound like a good proposition for Summer 2020.
Partnerships with 15 local governments and DMOs to promote Domestic Travel
While the Airbnb Go Near pages are accessible globally, the company has also been busy creating and launching, at the same time, 15 partnerships with the following organizations:
- National Park Foundation, United States
- Discover Puerto Rico, United States
- VISIT FLORIDA, United States
- Visit North Carolina, United States
- Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing, United Arab Emirates
- VisitDenmark
- French Association of Rural Mayors
- Hadong-gun, South Korea
- Zhejiang Tourism Homestay Inn Federation, China
- Guilin Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Television and Tourism, China
- State of São Paulo, Brazil
- Bermuda Tourism Authority
- The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation
- Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Wesgro, South Africa
Airbnb will have a specific campaign with each of these organizations to support travel to them by domestic travelers. In France, for example, Airbnb will be promoting a list of 13 “secret villages,” selected together with the influential Association des Maires Ruraux de France (“French Association of Rural Mayors”). Airbnb has 18M users in France. For this Summer, 80% of them have been booking non-urban destinations (sea, mountain, or countryside). Year-on-year bookings in Dordogne and Ardeche have increased by 220% and 190%, respectively.
A press relations campaign to promote the Go Near campaign, while giving positive news and data about the Airbnb business overall
Airbnb’s co-founders, Brian Chesky, Nathan Blecharczyk, and Joe Gebbia, have also been very active in the US and international press to promote the Go Near campaign, as well as to spread the word about Airbnb’s Enhanced Cleaning Protocol.
- India: Domestic travel rebounding strongly: Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder, Airbnb
- US: Airbnb CEO on future of travel: ‘This isn’t a lost travel season’
- UK: The Airbnb comeback: co-founder Joe Gebbia on the rental site’s masterplan for recovery
While doing so, Airbnb’s team also shared positive data about the company. For instance:
- Airbnb has more listings now — more than 7 million — than it did on January 1.
- 94% of hosts surveyed responded that they intended to remain on the platform.
- From May 17 to June 6, its U.S. bookings were greater than the same period a year ago.
- 60% of Airbnb bookings in May have been to non-urban destinations compared with almost 45% a year earlier.
Airbnb Go Near, an impressive feat to showcase rural vacation Rentals
Vrbo is usually the OTA promoting family-friendly, entire homes, in traditional vacation rental markets. For summer 2020, Airbnb is also going after this exact market. Let’s see which of Vrbo and Airbnb brings in the most booking once summer is over.
