Last week, I wrote an article about how Airbnb became Amex Travel’s exclusive vacation rental partner.
For hosts, tapping into Amex cardholders is a pretty ideal demographic. A NerdWallet study found that 32% of Americans planning a vacation are using credit card points to pay for it.
And Amex cardholders have a higher income and spend more on travel than the average person (the average Amex Platinum household earns over $400,000 and regularly redeems points for luxury stays).
But not every Airbnb gets in front of them. Only ~11% of global listings (~1 million out of 9 million) are actually showing up on Amex, so Airbnb’s clearly hand-picking the more premium homes.
What it takes to qualify
Jamie Lane, AirDNA’s Chief Economist, pulled 5,000 Amex Travel listings across four major markets and matched them to AirDNA’s data. Here’s what he found:
- All Airbnb Luxe listings are included, and they’re the only ones eligible for Amex's $600 Platinum Lodging Credit.
- Every non-Luxe listing that makes the cut is for an entire place, rated 4.85+, with at least 10 reviews.
- Over 99% are Guest Favorites or a Superhost.
- Instant Book, cancellation policy, price and cleaning fees made no difference.
Source: AirDNA, GMH
But even checking all of those boxes still only gives a listing about a 63% chance of showing up… The rest comes down to the host or property manager’s overall account.
Hosts whose portfolio averages below ~4.7 had zero listings on Amex (meaning even a 5.0 home can get dragged down by lower-rated properties on the same account).
How to check if your property is listed
If you (or a friend) have an Amex card, log into the Amex Travel portal and search your market to see if your property is visible.
Further reading
