Airbnb-CarTrawler Partnership Details 1 Month In: Scoop

Skift Take

Airbnb's car rental business would be more of a win if it did the hard work to establish direct relationships with the car-rental companies themselves.

One month after Skift broke the news that Airbnb partnered with Ireland-based CarTrawler for car rentals, here's a behind-the-scenes update and how the partnership works, according to a source familiar with the operation.

Airbnb's car rentals are hosted on CarTrawler, which has direct relationships with car rental companies — the same arrangement Uber once relied on before building its own direct relationships, a more lucrative setup than going through a middleman like CarTrawler.

Skift is reporting these details for the first time:

The Airbnb-CarTrawler partnership is doing roughly 500 bookings per day in five live markets: the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, and Australia. The bookings are trending toward lower-end rentals, such as with Budget Rent a Car. Budget is a preferred supplier of Airbnb. Customers view 3-6 car-rental choices at the top of the car rental page that CarTrawler hosts for Airbnb, and they view Airbnb's roster of preferred partners

Reporting originally appeared via Skift Travel News. Read the full source for additional context.