Airbnb Is Becoming an Even Bigger Threat to Hotels Says a New Report
Photo Credit: A promotional image from Airbnb depicting a business traveler staying in an Airbnb. A new report from Morgan Stanley Research suggests Airbnb's success in becoming a major competitive threat to traditional hotels hinges on its ability to succeed in growing its usage by business travelers. Airbnb / Airbnb
Skift Take
Although much focus as of late has been on Airbnb's ability to become a new kind of online travel agency, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it continues to be a major disruptor to the traditional hotel industry, too.
While the hotel industry has said Airbnb isn't as big a threat to their business as some may think it is, a new report from Morgan Stanley Research suggests otherwise.
The report, called "Who Will Airbnb Hurt More — Hotels or OTAs? … One Year Later," used survey data collected from more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., UK, France, and Germany to demonstrate the competitive threat of Airbnb to both hotels and to online travel agencies (OTAs).
That threat, says Morgan Stanley Research, is greatest for hotels because "Airbnb usage has increased more than we thought it would and cannibalization of traditional hotels has also been higher."
Brian Nowak, executive director of Morgan Stanley Research, wrote in the report: "Our AlphaWise survey shows rising Airbnb adoption (now approximately 18 percent of travelers) with demand increasingly coming from hotels." He added, "While still small, we believe Airbnb has been almost double the threat to hotels in 2016 than previously belie
