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I’m a millennial and I love using Airbnb. That being said I struggle to understand what the competitive advantage / moat is for Airbnb. Outside of brand / name

I’m a millennial and I love using Airbnb. That being said I struggle to understand what the competitive advantage / moat is for Airbnb. Outside of brand / name recognition I don’t know any reasons why someone would pick Airbnb over VRBO or another service. Is there some sort of data play that they are making? Why would I invest in Airbnb when I could buy into a REIT or some other real estate asset? Would love some ellucidation.

pjanoman 6y ago
I'm not extremely well-versed in this issue, but it seems like investing in Airbnb is completely different than investing in real estate itself. I feel like the comparison is similar to investing in Amazon versus investing in a company that sells its products on Amazon. Betting on real estate means betting on the value of the home/land increasing, while betting on Airbnb means betting on the company + the future of the market of renting homes. I did some initial research on Airbnb vs. VRBO, and they do seem like very similar companies. However, VRBO started in 1995, while Airbnb started in 2008. VRBO had a head start, and yet has only 2 million listings in comparison to Airbnb's 7 million[0]. The faster growth of Airbnb in comparison to VRBO might be one reason you'd want to invest in Airbnb over VRBO, especially in an America that allows monopolies to thrive under certain conditions. [0]: https://www.cnet.com/news/airbnb-vs-vrbo-which-is-the-best-vacation-rental-site/ https://www.cnet.com/news/airbnb-vs-vrbo-which-is-the-best-v...