While the hotel industry may be wary of Airbnb's sudden emergence, a new independent analysis by STR suggests the short-term rental platform still has ways to go before it can be considered a legitimate threat to traditional hotels and resorts.
STR examined hotel performance data alongside Airbnb-sourced data between December 2013 and July 2016 from 13 different markets, including Barcelona, Miami, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo, among others, only comparing Airbnb data for listings that are comparable to hotels (shared accommodations were excluded from the analysis).
STR's research found that Airbnb occupancy was highest in the markets where hotel occupancy was the highest and despite a rise in Airbnb supply in recent years, the total number of hotel compression nights-when occupancy is at or above 95 percent and hotels typically charge higher rates-remained steady from 2013 (61) through 2016 (71).
What's more, Airbnb's growing supply also had little impact on hotels pricing power during the aforementioned compression nights. According to STR, in the seven U.S. markets analyzed, hoteliers priced rooms 30.8 percent higher on compression nights compared to non-compression nights in 2013, while that figure rose to 34.8 percent in 2016.
The report also found that Airbnb's share of business travelers was significantly smaller than its share of leisure travelers and that Airbnb guests typically stayed longer than hotel guests, with more than 46 percent of all Airbnb room nights sold in the seven U.S. markets having been part of a seven-day or longer stay, compared to just 9 percent of all hotel room nights sold.
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"It is not surprising that results were different in each market, but data suggests that Airbnb owners seem to not deploy yield management strategies as effectively as their hotel counterparts," said STR's senior vice president of lodging insights Jan Freitag in a statement.
"Occupancies of hotels are higher than Airbnb occupancies, while hotels charge a higher room rate."
For the 12 months ending July 2016, STR found hotel average daily rates (ADR) increased in all but one market, while Airbnb rates decreased in eight out of the 13 markets examined, with increased Airbnb supply likely having been a factor.
Freitag added that STR hopes the report will benefit operators, lawmakers and others as Airbnb continues its expansion across the globe.
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