> but the idea that it doubled in value in less than a
> year and is worth almost as much as say Marriott, which
> owns real estate, generated almost $2 billion in EBITDA
> in the past 12 months and returns cash to shareholders
> in the form of a dividend, is absurd
Unless you believe (which I don't, but whatever) that it poses an existential threat to Marriott, and that it will essentially kill all non-business (and some percentage of business) hotel bookings with time; it's also got the advantage that I've heard people say "just Airbnb it" or "just use Airbnb", but I've never heard anyone say that about Marriott or the Hilton...
I work in finance (hedge fund management) and my wife works in sales for big pharma. I've never heard any of our rich, yuppie friends say "just use Airbnb." It's more like "Where did you stay?" "The Four Seasons" Anecdotes are worthless.
Maybe. But to be fair, those are two completely different markets. I went to school 45 minutes north of Manhattan...airbnb, had it existed back then, would have opened up the City to me and my friends in ways I can't imagine. And airbnb does have some pretty expensive and exclusive properties available. I doubt The Four Seasons really cares what Airbnb does because, again, it doesn't really matter to them.
yuppies eat plenty of mcdonalds. primarily breakfast/coffee, and salads. they 'pivoted' away from only junk food a few years ago after the supersize me fiasco and have done quite well with it. have you seen an mcdonalds at 8am in a business district? it's like a fuckin' crime scene.
also, when yuppies get drunk in the city... all bets are off.
Anecdotes are worthless, sure, but even the richest of my friends would apparently stay in a luxury loft in the city that another soulless hotel chain. Airbnb does luxury as well...
I don't care that much about whether I'm staying in a Marriott or Hilton, but I like sleeping in a bed containing a regulated small amount of bedbugs and semen, not some desperate guy's rented-out couch.
> I've heard people say "just Airbnb it" or "just use Airbnb", but I've never heard anyone say that about Marriott or the Hilton...
So you haven't booked a trip in a corporate environment then? There are places where companies have deals with chains like Hilton and staying at an Airbnb would require some extra explanation on the expense report.
Sure. But I've also worked at a billion dollar multinational where my boss suggested I use Airbnb in preference to what he referred to as "the shitty Hilton".
People renting out their homes and apartments, in many cases unlawfully, is an existential threat to hotels?
How many rooms does Marriott have in, say, SF, versus how many rooms AirBNB is currently floating?
And if hotels start closing down, then people start complaining about problems when staying at strangers houses, leading to regulation of offering places for short-term stays (wait, that already exists, AirBNBers just ignore it)... don't we end up in the same place?
Eventually someone will buy an old Marriott hotel (after they cease to exist) and put all that inventory on Marriott.
