A few reasons why vacation rentals and Airbnb aren’t a huge threat to hotels

In February, I wrote a piece entitled “Airbnb.com Poses Only a Small Threat to Hotel Industry”, which has caused a great deal of discussion. I still contend that Airbnb.com (and similar websites such as Onefinestay or even more mainstream vacation rental websites such as HomeAway.com) are, for the most part, simply a better way of distributing existing vacation rental stock, and so the question is more about whether short-term vacation rentals are a threat to the hotel industry.

… As an aside, I’d like to put Airbnb.com’s figures into some context. The company states that it has sold over 10 million room nights since its inception in 2007. The US alone saw more than one billion room nights in 2012 booked at hotels. Airbnb.com had over 300,000 listings in 2012.  … Despite the media attention, the company is a relatively small player in the lodgings market even if you would like to view it as a competitor to the global hotel companies.