4 ms·

In my view, AirBnb made the travel pie substantially larger. More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. If

In my view, AirBnb made the travel pie substantially larger. More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. If the choice is not traveling at all vs. putting up with the friction of finding the property and getting the key, reviewing the house rules and then stripping the bed and taking out the trash before you check out, many people will choose the convenience hit and take more trips. Such as 260 entire place stays in London for under $60/night. Put that together with some ridiculously low international air fare, like, RT SFO LHR for $700, pre-pandemic, and many more people will travel.

kspacewalk2 6y ago
The other segment where Airbnb filled a huge market need is medium-to-large family travel. I went to Italy last year with 4 family members ranging in age from 3 to 70. Staying in hotels would have been prohibitively expensive and more cramped, so we probably would not have gone. They definitely made the pie larger in the category.
- gabereiser 6y ago
  All these things. I’ve used AirBnB to snag a single bed at a hostel at $3/night to renting out a ski villa in Breckenridge for the whole clan of 14. While there are a lot of hotels pretending to be owners in high travel hotspots, most of the time it’s someone trying to offset or profit off a room/place they have and you’ll gladly take it for the different experience from the hotel room which start to all look the same.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jariel 6y ago
It's mostly regulatory arbitrage, same as Uber. If cities and townships were to have looser regulations on hotels - which evidently they should, given the vast demand and 'mostly' it's not excessively problematic for communities - then AirBnB wouldn't exist because hotel prices and types would have much more variety and competitiveness, and so would listings. If anyone could just get in their car and tell the local dispatcher 'they want to drive tonight' - probably Uber would have never been able to come to fruition in the first place. I'm not saying that either company is good or bad, or that the regulations are good or bad, rather, that the underlying business models depended on a kind of civil regulatory asymmetry. Personally, I wish cities would adjust their regulations to be more appropriate, I don't think there needs to be an Uber or AirBnB.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
  Let's suppose that my municipality has adjusted their regulations to be more appropriate. I live in a 6 bedroom house, and only regularly use a couple of them. I decide to make one available for random people to stay, short term. How do I find them? How do they find me? How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate.
  - jariel 6y ago
    "How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate" ? So your point is only AirBnB 'can make a website' ? If regulations were lax before AirBnB existed there'd be 1000 different sites you could list upon and hoteliers of all kinds would charge less. Or at least many would. Because AirBnb was the progenitor of the lease-your-room modality they captured the market and have a little bit of a natural monopoly in it, as there's some coordination with marketplace, identity, etc.. Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
      > Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'. I doubt that. I'm not sure I can justify my doubt, but I doubt it. Also, the "myriad ways to book a hotel room" works only because more or less every hotel is on more or less every such way of doing it.
      - jariel 6y ago
        There are a myriad of ways to book hotels right now. There's no reason, that with more open regulatory scnearios, there wouldn't be a myriad ways to 'book your 6 room flat'. Or rather, you could have the option to list with a few. AirBnB 'broke through' into a market that didn't quite exist, partly because it's literally illegal in most places. Very few landlords allow subleasing rooms as well. Both AirBnB and Uber created a market in a 'regulatory grey area' so they kind of developed a marketplace monopoly. If that gray area did not exist previously, AirBnB and Uber would not have had the power to break through and dominate.
contingencies 6y ago
More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. Maybe some areas. In Europe, Asia and Australia I have always found AirBNB more expensive than hotels which incidentally waste less of your time, have better signage and access, and can provide value-added services like multiple contactless keys, key replacement, waste disposal, laundry, holding luggage and local recommendations. Oh, and they support three sometimes-killer features: payment on arrival, cash, and pre-inspection of rooms.

kspacewalk2 6y ago

The other segment where Airbnb filled a huge market need is medium-to-large family travel. I went to Italy last year with 4 family members ranging in age from 3 to 70. Staying in hotels would have been prohibitively expensive and more cramped, so we probably would not have gone. They definitely made the pie larger in the category.

gabereiser 6y ago
All these things. I’ve used AirBnB to snag a single bed at a hostel at $3/night to renting out a ski villa in Breckenridge for the whole clan of 14. While there are a lot of hotels pretending to be owners in high travel hotspots, most of the time it’s someone trying to offset or profit off a room/place they have and you’ll gladly take it for the different experience from the hotel room which start to all look the same.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jariel 6y ago

It's mostly regulatory arbitrage, same as Uber. If cities and townships were to have looser regulations on hotels - which evidently they should, given the vast demand and 'mostly' it's not excessively problematic for communities - then AirBnB wouldn't exist because hotel prices and types would have much more variety and competitiveness, and so would listings. If anyone could just get in their car and tell the local dispatcher 'they want to drive tonight' - probably Uber would have never been able to come to fruition in the first place. I'm not saying that either company is good or bad, or that the regulations are good or bad, rather, that the underlying business models depended on a kind of civil regulatory asymmetry. Personally, I wish cities would adjust their regulations to be more appropriate, I don't think there needs to be an Uber or AirBnB.

PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
Let's suppose that my municipality has adjusted their regulations to be more appropriate. I live in a 6 bedroom house, and only regularly use a couple of them. I decide to make one available for random people to stay, short term. How do I find them? How do they find me? How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate.
- jariel 6y ago
  "How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate" ? So your point is only AirBnB 'can make a website' ? If regulations were lax before AirBnB existed there'd be 1000 different sites you could list upon and hoteliers of all kinds would charge less. Or at least many would. Because AirBnb was the progenitor of the lease-your-room modality they captured the market and have a little bit of a natural monopoly in it, as there's some coordination with marketplace, identity, etc.. Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago
    > Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'. I doubt that. I'm not sure I can justify my doubt, but I doubt it. Also, the "myriad ways to book a hotel room" works only because more or less every hotel is on more or less every such way of doing it.
    - jariel 6y ago
      There are a myriad of ways to book hotels right now. There's no reason, that with more open regulatory scnearios, there wouldn't be a myriad ways to 'book your 6 room flat'. Or rather, you could have the option to list with a few. AirBnB 'broke through' into a market that didn't quite exist, partly because it's literally illegal in most places. Very few landlords allow subleasing rooms as well. Both AirBnB and Uber created a market in a 'regulatory grey area' so they kind of developed a marketplace monopoly. If that gray area did not exist previously, AirBnB and Uber would not have had the power to break through and dominate.

contingencies 6y ago

More people can afford to travel when rooms in far away places can be rented for small amounts. Maybe some areas. In Europe, Asia and Australia I have always found AirBNB more expensive than hotels which incidentally waste less of your time, have better signage and access, and can provide value-added services like multiple contactless keys, key replacement, waste disposal, laundry, holding luggage and local recommendations. Oh, and they support three sometimes-killer features: payment on arrival, cash, and pre-inspection of rooms.