American hospitality major Airbnb is partnering with Arianna Huffington’s media and corporate service company Thrive Global India to launch ‘Thrive Retreats’, a set of curated wellness retreats and business offsites in India and abroad targeted at Indian professionals.
Bookable on Airbnb, Thrive Retreats will offer select Airbnb experiences for mental peace and wellness besides activities like spa treatments, ayurvedic massages, hiking, nature walks and outdoor sports.
Huffington, founder and CEO at Thrive Global, said India’s workforce is not only one of the largest in the world but also one of the youngest and that her company’s mission is to help the “digitally savvy Indian workforce” prioritise their wellbeing in order to lead more productive and meaningful lives.
Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager at Airbnb India, said the partnership is in line with the firm’s efforts to ramp up its corporate travel category Airbnb for Work in India.
“Given the way urban India is — and our millennial generation is working too hard — this could resonate well with the audience,” he said. “The number of corporate travel nights have been growing 4x year on year and a good part of the business is Airbnb for Work.”
Bajaj said more than 6,000 companies are actively engaged with Airbnb. The idea behind Thrive Retreats is to encourage companies and their employees to switch off and take some much-needed time off work, he said. Thrive Retreats will take place at Airbnb’s handpicked properties across the globe.
Thrive Global India will also tap facilitators and speakers to build sessions for retreat attendees.
Airbnb has invested $75 million, or about Rs 516 crore, in Softbank-backed Oyo as per regulatory filings. “It is a strategic investment,” Bajaj said. “We will also work with Oyo to ensure their inventory comes onto our platform. It will happen this year.”
He said India and China are among Airbnb’s fastest growing markets. “Oyo is empowering a large number of local hospitality entrepreneurs in India as well as other countries that they are operating in and they are providing more options to travellers,” Bajaj said. “We want to ensure there is an Airbnb for everyone at every price point.”
Source: Economic Times