Skift Take
Business travelers in the U.S. are now taking more rides in Ubers than rental cars. This is huge progress for Uber and represents a major problem for traditional car rental companies.
Business travel is something of an untapped opportunity for many sharing economy travel services, since conservative travel policies often limit their usage.
New information from expense tracking service Certify shows that 2015 was the year that saw a major breakthrough for Uber, Lyft and Airbnb for business travelers. Even Hotel Tonight was a beneficiary of business travel spending.
Here are four charts showing the highlights of Certify’s 2015 Year in Review infographic and the emergence of the sharing economy as an important option for business travelers.
Chart 1: The use of Uber eclipsed car rentals for the first time ever in the fourth quarter of 2015, as a percentage of total rides. Uber’s top competitor Lyft also saw solid growth over the last fiscal year.
Chart 2: Not only are more business travelers using ride sharing services, but they also enjoy using them more than renting a car or taking a cab.
Chart 3: On the roomsharing front, Airbnb has seen increased adoption from both domestic and international business travelers.
Chart 4: The much maligned Hotel Tonight saw an impressive increase in adoption from business travelers in 2015, with spend rising 1,050 percent.
The Daily Newsletter
Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.
Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch
Tags: airbnb, business travel, lyft, uber
Photo credit: A businessman hails a cab at night in Manhattan. Lihn Nguyen / Flickr