Is Airbnb Hotelier’s Friend or Foe?

“Airbnb over time has lost its host centric edge as it moves into a profit centric mode. Trying to argue that Airbnb is nothing else than another OTA in the landscape should by now be a mute point - acquisition of Hoteltonight, hiking up commission rates “to either pass on to guests or suck it up like you would with OTA’s”, possible investment in OYO, etc. ”

“Airbnb broke the ‘boundary’ between the accommodation and the hotel industries by focusing travellers on what they need is a place to sleep, not a hotel room. Airbnb, as a relatively new supplier of beds, works harder to better understand travellers and, as a consequence, travellers are willing to tolerate the inconvenience of waiting to be approved, and dragging their luggage to find their Airbnb. How many hotel brands have this power?”

“From the time they announced they were pursuing boutique hotel inventory in March 2018, Airbnb’s intentions became obvious. Just as Expedia and Booking.com have to diversify into short term rental, Airbnb has to add hotels. Growth rates are critical if they want to IPO and their penetration in vacation rental cannot maintain the meteoric rise with head-on competition from the OTAs. Pushback from tax and safety regulations in major markets has been another persistent headwind.”