The Business of Hotels Vs. Short-Term Rentals in 4 Charts
Skift Take
Even as CEOs of major hotel chains argue that Airbnb doesn't threaten their bottom lines, the projection that some short-term rental companies will have higher room sales than some hotels by 2020 makes their footing less secure.
Some hoteliers still brush off the threat of Airbnb and suggest that the short-term rental company hasn't had any impact on their own businesses.
But if new projections pan out from Euromonitor International, a London-based global market research firm, Airbnb will be the world's second largest hospitality company in 2020 in terms of total room sales. Airbnb would only be dwarfed by the combined Marriott-Starwood and will have nearly $40 billion worth of short-term rental sales per year by 2020.
A lot could happen between now and 2020 that could alter these projections or completely disprove them, particularly with Airbnb. But Airbnb's multi-billion dollar stockpile of cash and its ambitions to bring business travel into its fold point to considerable staying power.
Euromonitor's recent report on short-term rentals argues Airbnb's branching out in terms of target audience and property composition will help determine how cities and countries adapting their regulatory frameworks to either legalize or ban it. "It has lost its image as a technology start-up and peer-to-peer platform championing the rights of homeowners," the report states.
"It is clear that the company
