The final day of IHIF 2019 opened with a series of interviews with providers of alternative models within the hospitality sector. The first of these was Greg Greeley, President of Homes, Airbnb interviewed by Ömer Isvan, President, Servotel. Greeley said that from a company "whose owners opened their homes 10 years ago just to pay their rent" Airbnb now operates in 191 countries and has 7 million listings. Greeley believes they are in "the magical travel business". Isvan questioned Greeley on the relationship with hotels to which he answered "last year we opened our arms to boutique hotels and our phones have been ringing off the hook. Any boutique hotel who provides a unique experience should not think of us as a competitor, they should think of us as a partner". According to research, 89% of people who use Airbnb say they do so because there is no hotel in the area they want to stay so Airbnb say they stimulate travel in areas where it wouldn't normally be. Talking about the types of accommodation listed, Greeley said "traditional vacation rentals, which have been around for years, have found that Airbnb is a useful platform". Isvan wanted to understand the percentage of real estate that is purpose built for listing on Airbnb. Greeley replied that "there is there dialogue between developers and Airbnb. Airbnb is an open platform so developers who want to create a unique short-term rental, can do so."
↧