In: Economics
how much of threat is compitation to airbnb
Threats: Lawsuits for Airbnb, fines for the hosts.
Although a few cities are updating their housing regulations to accommodate Airbnb, it’s not nearly enough. Airbnb is available worldwide in 192 countries. Each country, state, and city have their own regulations to abide by.
Airbnb could help their hosts and guests understand these laws. Making them follow it is out of their hands. Instead, Airbnb needs to hope they’re meeting the expectations of local laws. And then do what they can, legally, to protect themselves if the hosts and guests don’t follow through.
At the moment, the company is facing a number of lawsuits from all over the world. Hosts are also facing legal repercussions (fines) for hosting illegal hotels. In general, it seems the biggest threat for everyone involved is the failure to follow housing protocols.
Also, the competitor scene is growing. Yes, they exist. No, they’re not as big as Airbnb. But if they’re paying attention, they may be a big problem for Airbnb in the future. Especially if they can find a way to put a lid on the legal issues.
After analyzing AirBnB's competition:
Most of the people tend to think that these are the main competitors:
1. HomeAway (owns VRBO) which indeed was acquired by Expedia is somewhat a threat but if you analyze the growth and the "cool" factor we don't think Airbnb has to worry about it too much. Especially now that it will be run by even a bigger corporation such as Expedia. After all, when was the last time you thought of Expedia as the main site to book your stay? Or, when was the last time you went on HomeAway instead of Vacation Rentals, Homes, Apartments & Rooms for Rent - Airbnb to look for a short time stay? Ask people around who they think of then they think of the short time rental stay. Homestay's stock wasn't performing too well before the acquisition, either.
2. There are sites like flatbook and onefinestay and the likes, but as of now it looks like they are still trying to expand and quite possibly losing money just to grow and scale. We think Airbnb can easily put them out of business.