Modern MBA: Airbnb is losing its competitive edge to hotels

While Airbnb continues to outperform the hotel industry in terms of scale and listings, the challenge the tech company faces today is the realization that quantity is not quality.  Safety issues, service inconsistency, guest volatility, intrusive hosts, privacy concerns and excessive policies have resulted in Airbnb travelers feeling more like burdens than guests to their hosts these days.  On the flipside, regulation has also caught up.  With mandatory city fees, licensing and permit costs now factored into each booking, Airbnb can no longer use the tagline that they're cheaper or more unique than a hotel when they're already being taxed like one.  And since affordability was a major driving force behind the company's early popularity, it's an open question mark as to how Airbnb will navigate these choppy waters ahead.  When the playing ground becomes level and price becomes equal across hotels and Airbnbs, service will inevitably become a competitive advantage.  The reliability, predictability and consistency in guest experience is really where hotels have continued to edge out Airbnb across business and leisure travel for the past several decades and why the industry as a whole doesn't think of Airbnb as a threat.

~ Modern MBA, "Why Airbnb Fails to Disrupt the Hotel Industry," 24:30 mark, YouTube, April 9, 2022