Hotels May Try to Counter Airbnb's Rise With Bets on Tech

Airbnb isn't hurting hotels today in most markets. Unless it is. STR, the market research firm, confronts that conundrum -- as does the entire hotel industry. STR says Airbnb's precise impact won't be clear until the home-rental booking startup shares more of its transaction data with third-party researchers. The firm's researchers spoke on the issue Thursday and Friday in Nashville at the Hotel Data Conference, which is STR's annual event for trade executives. Real or Imagined Threat? In the absence of data, STR said it might be missing some of the impact. Amanda Hite, STR chief executive, noted that when her firm has looked at hotel rate growth in the U.S. it has had to, in recent quarters, repeatedly revise rate growth estimates downward. For instance, the projection it made in January for 2017 overall U.S. hotel rate growth was 2.8 percent. STR has since revised the forecast down to 2.3 percent. "There were lots of contributing factors to that," Hite said, "But traction from alternative accommodation has to be one of them, at least in some markets." Although Airbnb's direct financial impact on hotels may be unclear, what is certain is that the company is already altering hotels' decision-making when considering new brand initiatives, for example. Divided opinions This reporter's anecdotal guess was that only a minority of hotel executives at the STR event believe Airbnb is an imminent threat. Statements from top hotel chain executives that Airbnb isn't having an impact seemed to have reassured most of the 626 attendees, who represented hotel ownership groups, management companies, investors, revenue managers, and brands large and small. Yet during several panel talks, a vocal minority said they were alarmed about the long-term. "I can't stop thinking about Airbnb," said Mitch Patel, CEO of Vision Hospitality Growth, a firm that owns 33 hotels. Patel noted that Airbnb had generated as many stays last year as it had generated between 2008 and 2015 combined. Last week the company confirmed that it has notched 200 million guest stays since its founding. "At every conference year after year you hear that Airbnb is not really impacting us and is just activating incremental demand," said Suril Shah, a managing director and head of U.S. hotels at Starwood Capital Group. "That's a bunch of baloney." Yet Hilton's global head of All Suites Brands, Bill Duncan, said there's no Airbnb impact for his company. His