What Americans Really Think About Airbnb and Home-Sharing
Photo Credit: A new study from the Pew Research Center offers some insights into what Americans think of home-sharing platforms like Airbnb. Airbnb
Skift Take
Should hotels be as worried about Airbnb and home-sharing as headlines seem to suggest? That depends, suggests a new study from the Pew Research Center.
In less than a decade Airbnb, the San Francisco-based home-sharing platform worth an estimated $25.5 billion, has become one of the biggest disruptors in the travel space.
And the industry for whom Airbnb has been the most disruptive — hospitality — is keeping a very close watch on the company's every move.
Every day, there seems to be a new headline suggesting the hospitality industry's demise at the hands of short-term rental sites like Airbnb.
On May 16, a New York City budget analysis highlighting a 4% drop in hotel occupancy taxes from October to March delivered the following headline: "Websites like Airbnb blamed for drop in revenue from NYC hotel tax." It's not the only factor: the city of New York is in the midst of a glut of new hotels both in development and under construction; 126 new hotels are slated to open in the city in 2016 and beyond.
On May 19, Bank of America hospitality analysts announced they were downgrading their suggestions from "buy" to "ne
