Briefing: How competing with Airbnb has impacted hospitality

Airbnb just keeps growing. According to the website it has now had 60 million guests, 2 million listings worldwide, and is used in 34,000 cities. Summer travel with Airbnb has grown 353 times over in 5 years. In summer 2015, nearly 17 million total guests stayed with Airbnb hosts.

Other couch surfing/ hosted accommodation sites include 9flats.com, homestay.com and couchsurfing.com.

What does the growth of this type of accommodation really mean for hospitality and how does the impact vary across sectors? Our experts discuss:

Competing with Airbnb is made more complex by the fact that it offers such a variety of accommodation types. It could compete with everything from a hostel to a luxury hotel. The accommodation on offer includes yurts, RVs, boats and castles. Airbnb appeals to both holiday makers and business travellers so can impact all corners of the market at different levels.

Airbnb is typically most popular in cities. Top destinations for business travel are San Francisco, CA, London, UK and New York City, NY, and Paris, France. At the beginning of this year Airbnb also released some statistic about more surprising destinations that are gaining momentum including Chūō-ku in Osaka, Japan which had 7000% Growth in 2015, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which had 1200% Growth, and Poncey-Highland in Atlanta, GA which had 240% Growth.

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Learning to evolve is key to success

In a survey by Gap International, 34% of executives ranked Mind-set/Attitude as the most important attribute for the success of great business leaders.  31% ranked People Skills/Team Building as most important, while only 15% rank Industry Experience this way.

In an industry that is constantly evolving, no one can expect that the same skills will always see them to success. Having an organisation that embraces change is the key to making progress. Leaders need to be open to new ideas and be willing to take the time to learn about new developments.

Our experts discuss growth and evolution in a changing world:

The way leaders deal with change and growth is very important as it can directly affect the attitudes and performance of employees within the organisation. A report by Towers Watson found that communication in an organisation going through change can be 6% worse than in an average company, whilst a high performing company could be 16% above average, making a 24% difference between the two. Company image can fall down by a massive 14% and empowerment can go down by 6%.

The study also found that a preference for change amongst employees can increase their engagement at work. The report found that among employees who prefer change 57% were engaged, while among those who preferred stability, only 19% prefer change.

So a positive attitudes toward change across the board can keep companies moving forward with the changes that are happening around them.

The Gap international study, surveyed 301 senior executives at companies in the United States with revenues of $1 billion or more.

The Towers Watson 2014 Global Workforce Study surveyed more than 32,000 employees across a range of industries in 26 markets around the world.

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: The expansion of extended stay

A Special Report by Skift and Homewood Suites by Hilton found that there has been a 42.3% year over year growth in the pipeline for extended-stay properties in the US. Homewood Suites has 325 hotels in the US. Another growing extended-stay brand is Staybridge Suites, which has 101 hotels in the pipeline. With increasing awareness and demand for extended-stay accommodation internationally, there is high potential for growth.

Experts discuss extended-stays in a variety of accommodation types:

The report ‘The Changing Business of Extended-Stay Hotels’ found that the average age of extended-stay travellers is mid-40s. Also the 18-34 year old age group slightly favours extended-stay style accommodation for leisure trips.

The survey found that guests in extended-stay accommodation are more likely to be on business than leisure and that business travellers will stay longer.

Unsurprisingly the survey found that free wi-fi and a complimentary hot breakfast were considered the two most important amenities in an extended-stay hotel by both business and leisure travellers.

The survey found that only 45.4% of travelling Americans had stayed in extended-stay accommodation and 8.6% didn’t know what extended-stay accommodation was, suggesting there is potential for further growth in the market in America.

According to figures from STR, occupancy in extended-stay has been growing over the past few years. In the US, demand for extended-stay was 72.5% in 2012, 73.1% in 2013, and 74.9% in 2014. 125,000 new extended-stay rooms are expected to open in the US by 2018.

In the economy sector, STR data also showed that extended-stay supply growth was 2.6% YTD in May 2015 and ADR showed a 7.9% year on year change.

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Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Government must clear path for hospitality growth

A well governed organisation offering quality services will engage customers. But without government cooperation and well developed infrastructure the delivery of the product is more difficult. Visas, travel restrictions, expenses and security fears can put customers off.

Collaboration within the industry is needed to highlight these barriers to business. Also, more communication between the governments of neighbouring countries could help create solutions to these issues. Comment includes:

  • Peter Norman, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Development, Hyatt Hotels Corporation on why hospitality needs a united voice to lobby against restrictions

  • Patrick Fitzgibbon, SVP – Development, Europe & Africa, Hilton Worldwide on visas, air travel and infrastructure

  • Daniel Silke, Political Analyst & Keynote Speaker, Political Futures Consulting on making business and travel easier in Africa

  • Muhammad Al-Amir, Founder & MD, Riyada International Hotels & Resorts on the need for cooperation among the Gulf States

 


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Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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