Skift Take
If Airbnb is indeed seeing a slowdown of its business in more mature markets like Europe and the U.S., that's all the more reason for the company to double down on its efforts in emerging markets like China, and to work on adding more professional inventory, ahem, hotels.
Airbnb has reached peak Airbnb, at least in its most mature markets in the U.S. and Europe. Those are the findings of a new report from Morgan Stanley Research.
A follow-up to last year's annual AlphaWise survey of 4,000 consumers in the U.S., UK, France, and Germany, the report found a continuation of slower growth for the homesharing giant in those markets, as well as increasing competition from online travel agencies Booking and Expedia.
For this year's survey, the percentage of travelers who used Airbnb during the 12 months leading up to October 2018 increased to 27 percent, or about 2 percentage points. In 2017, the percentage of travelers who used Airbnb during the same period increased to 25 percent, up 3 percentage points. By contrast, in 2016, that increase was up 8 percentage points.
Not only that, but user frequency has started to fall by 10 percent, or three times per year, after being flat for the past three years.
Morgan Stanley researchers attributed the slowdown in Airbnb's growth to three primary reasons. For one, awareness of Airbnb has reached a peak of approximately 86 percent across the regions surveyed.
Secondly, issues surrounding privacy, legality, and safety are still barriers to adoption for some travelers. More than 50 percent of survey respondents who do not use Airbnb listed safety, privacy, or legality as reasons.
Another reason for the slowdown: competition from the online travel agencies is giving Airbnb a run for its money. Morgan Stanley Research expects online travel agencies' U.S. and European hotel businesses to grow at appr
