The popular South by Southwest (SXSW) is a music, film, and interactive festival, held every year in Austin for the past 29 years.
Over the past few years, SXSW has formed various partnerships and sponsorships with companies that include Airbnb, HomeAway, Uber, and Lyft, primarily because there was a need for their services, says Mike Shea, executive director of SXSW.
But SXSW isn't the only conference or event to have benefited from homesharing.
Take the World Cup in Brazil last year. Airbnb worked with FIFA organizers to open up housing for event attendees, unlocking supply in just a matter of weeks. The company estimates that 20 percent of World Cup attendees stayed in an Airbnb, and that 120,000 people stayed in more than 18,000 Airbnb listing in Rio alone, generating $40 million for local residents.
HomeAway, says Sheperd, similarly works with large events like the Special Olympics, the Super Bowl, and Lollapalooza to provide additional housing in destinations that have limited hotel rooms.
But what about for smaller meetings or groups? During a presentation at IBTM America in Chicago in June, Michael Brous, Airbnb senior business development lead for growth and strategic partnerships, said that BMW recently hosted a 15-person senior executive team at an Airbnb listing that consisted of two large penthouse apartments - each with seven bedrooms and seven baths. He recalls, "They told us, 'We had breakfast together, went out on our meetings, and enjoyed each other's company. The cost savings was extraordinary.'" That, Brous said, "That's the kind of future of us in terms of business travel."