The AIR Effect
Marriott Attempts to take on Airbnb
Marriott’s venture into the realm of Airbnb isn’t a big surprise, but is this really the right move for hotels? Our industry has been in a constant panic for the past few years over Airbnb and others like them. Owners Asset managers and DORM’s continue to lose sleep trying to figure out how it impacts our markets. While I cannot argue there is a net impact in the world of hospitality over it is minimal. AIR, VRBO etc. essentially caters to a niche market that hotels have never been overwhelmingly good at providing for and for the moment Airbnb provides a slightly lower margin to hotels willing to offer them inventory rightfully causing our other arch enemy the OTA’s to panic as well. Maybe Expedia should worry and for sure city housing authorities may need to panic over Airbnb but overall hotels and rental companies can live happily side by side without an all out war over share. Lets be honest Hilton taking on Expedia really didn't do all that much.
At its core Airbnb is a tech company, yes it provides lodging but its model is vastly different from the hospitality sector. Airbnb is here to stay and if you are of the mind set they are a direct competitor then you need to understand the company and the fact that it is at its heart a tech company. Having said that hotels are decades behind in technology and Marriott is at the back of the pack.
I have never been a proponent of encouraging anyone to stay in their lane respective lanes, but I would have to ask Marriott to reconsider the direction its going in. Marriott has not made the smartest of choices in the technology sector as of late. A company that chooses a DOS based system over a vastly superior PMS (Starwood) is not one that will fair well in the tech market. Sure you will steal share from a few of the others in the time share market but you may want to consider focusing on your core markets, systems and strategy before trying to take on a tech company. One might compare Marriott going after Air to a Macintosh LC II trying to outperform the iPhone.
In the end I am not saying there isn’t space for hotels to blend their model but we all need to do better and providing our teams with up to date technology or continue to have Expedia Airbnb and whatever the next waive is dance circles around our margins.
