Evolution of lodging networks during the economic crisis: What happened to Airbnb and to budget hotels in the context of the crisis in the USA?

Thèmes abordés

Lodging networks, economic crisis, Airbnb, USA

Résumé du document

The financial crisis started In September 2008, in the USA, with the bankrupt of Lehman Brothers. This financial shock led to a deep and long economic crisis. The USA has started to experience economic recovery in 2010 but the economic growth has still been low.

The hospitality industry, with most industries, has suffered from the economic crisis. Occupancy rate and other indicators decreased during the crisis. In the meantime, the sharing economy, in many industries, has boomed. Indeed, in hospitality industry, some lodging networks have emerged.

In this study, we will focus on the most famous one: Airbnb. It is a hospitality exchange website which provides a platform for members, either to rent lodging, either to offer a rental. Although Airbnb is really close to Couchsurfing, money is exchanged and this is why it can be viewed as a direct competitor of hotels and especially the ones the low-end of the market.

Extraits

[...] The boom of budget hotel overseas According to STR, the economic segment lost 18,000 hotel rooms (i.e of the total room number) between November 2011 and August 2014. The economy segment comprised of 788,187 rooms in November 2011, but only 770,463 in August 2014. This decline can be partially due to the low interest of US chain for national market. Since the economic shock, most of US chains have been developing their economy hotel brands outside of the USA (Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition, Dec 2010). [...]

[...] Only once the host accepts the transaction and the guest checks in is the credit card charged, along with a 6-12% transaction fee from Airbnb. The process is similarly simple for hosts, who receive a notification once a guest indicates interest in a particular listing and have the option to approve or deny the transaction. Once the listing is booked, the host receives the payment and Airbnb takes a transaction fee (Zervas, et al., 2014). Airbnb fundamental strategy has never changed since its beginning in 2008. [...]

[...] The increase of debt and savings explain the fact that people spend less money. They have more debts and at the same time, they try to keep more money. As a result, they spend less in hotels. After analyzing the effects of the financial crisis on the American population, we saw that the majority of the population lost wealth and income, while having more debts and saving more. As a result they spend less money in hotels. We will now analyze more precisely the consequences on the hotel industry. [...]

[...] Although Airbnb is really close to Couchsurfing, money is exchanged and this is why it can be viewed as a direct competitor of hotels and especially the ones the low-end of the market. We have chosen to investigate what happen to Airbnb and to budget hotels since September 08. The impact of the crisis on these two types of lodging will be regarded, as well as the impact of Airbnb on hotels, and especially on economy segment. In this report, we will attempt to clarify the relationship between these 3 elements. First, we will study the impacts and aftermath of the crisis on the hospitality industry. [...]

[...] Questioning effect of Airbnb on hotels, and introduce it ways to face the sharing economy Wu, S., Lee, F. & Reynard, J Airbnb, California: s.n. ? Dealing with Airbnb'history, evolution and concept. Zervas, G., Proserpio, D. & Byers, J The rise of the sharing economy : Estimating the impact of AirBnB on the Hotel Industry, s.l.: s.n. ? Estimating the impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry Table of contents Introduction 1 Impacts and aftermaths of the crisis on the hospitality industry 3 The financial crisis impacts on the population spending habits in hotels 3 The hotel industry decline in 2008- II) Impact of the crisis on budget hotels 7 Evolution of key indicators 7 Facing the crisis 9 Perspectives 10 III) Evolution of Airbnb during the crisis 11 History of Airbnb 11 Airbnb evolution (from 2008 2012) 12 Why this huge expansion? [...]