Report: How Airbnb fared against top hotel chains, Marriott, Hilton and Intercontinental

Airbnb, the pioneer of the sharing economy, disruptor of hotels, curator of experiences, has kept themselves in the news this year, according to the following article posted on trends.edison.tech.

With their CEO hinting at a 2019 IPO, their purchase of HotelTonight in March, and the recent announcement of Airbnb Adventures, established hotel chains continue to watch and worry. To see how Airbnb stacks up against some of the largest hotel chains (Marriott, Hilton, and InterContinental), Edison Trends took a deep dive at the sales between them, based on 2.6M transactions in the US.

How does customer spend at Airbnb vs. popular hotel chains compare seasonally? 

Figure 1: Chart shows an estimate of customer spend across Airbnb and hotel brand bookings between January 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019, according to Edison Trends. Edison Trends analyzed over 2.6 million transactions from each vendor's online website. When talking about customer spend, fees are not included.

Amongst the hotels analyzed, customers spend the most at Marriott. Marriott hotel customer spend volume peaked in October 2018, followed closely by September. Hilton also saw a noticeable uptick in customer spend in October 2018, although they peaked in June. The summer is Airbnb’s busy season, as the brand saw a 164% increase in reservations between May and July. InterContinental Hotels Group saw their busiest time in June 2018, followed closely by July. Closing out 2018, while all hotels saw customer spend volume decline in November and December, Airbnb saw an increase in the final month of the year.

How do Airbnb and hotel customers vary by spend and duration of stay?

Figure 2a: Chart shows estimated average length of stay at the three largest hotels and Airbnb, from January 1 - December 31, 2018, according to Edison Trends. All major US reservations analyzed were less than 21 days in order to exclude non-vacation stays (e.g. more than three weeks).

Figure 2b: Chart shows the estimated longest duration stays at Airbnb vs. other hotels (Marriott, Hilton, and IHG) across (top 50) major US cities, between January 1 - December 31, 2018, according to Edison Trends.

According to Figure 2a, in 2018, customers stayed at Airbnbs for an average of three days — one day longer than the two day average for hotels.

Looking at the major US cities with the longest stays (Figure 2b), Airbnb customers once again tend to stay longer on average than hotel chain customers. All Airbnb stays average a little over 3 days, whereas hotel stays average around 2.25. Among these major US cities, Airbnb customers tend to stay the longest in Mesa at 3.25 days, while hotel vendors’ customers stayed in Colorado Springs the longest - at 2.3 days.

Figure 2c: Chart shows the estimated average cost per night for three of the largest US cities and the three largest hotel chains and Airbnb, between January 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019, according to Edison Trends.

Marriott leads in highest average price per night in New York ($237), Chicago ($186), and Los Angeles ($194). In Los Angeles, however, Airbnb is a close second — trailing by only $5. Average Airbnb price in New York came in at $167 per night and $173 per night in Chicago. The Hilton and The InterContinental Hotels Group consistently rank third and fourth respectively in these cities in terms of cost per night. Interestingly, excluding Airbnb, these hotels are all most expensive in New York, followed by Los Angeles, and Chicago in third. Airbnb breaks this pattern by being most expensive on average in Los Angeles, then Chicago, followed by New York in third.

Where has Airbnb grown the most?

Figure 3: Chart shows estimated growth of Airbnb in the top 50 major US cities based on population, from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2018, according to Edison Trends.

Across the country, Airbnb saw the most growth (70%) in Oklahoma City, OK, followed by Jacksonville, FL (44%), and Charlotte, NC (33%). Tucson, AZ and Tampa, FL rounded out the top five locations, growing by 32% and 21% respectively.

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*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.