Airbnb has achieved the lofty accolade of being worth 25% more than global hospitality chain Hilton in just nine years.
This is one of the findings from a report by US-based 7Park Data into Airbnb and its growth and impact of rival online travel brands.
7Park reckons Airbnb is second only to the Priceline Group as the most valuable online travel company on the planet.
Booking growth at Airbnb is said to have slowed during 2015, but the company still saw its lowest rate coming it at an eye-watering level of around 45% in the fourth quarter (a high of 75% was achieved in Q1).
Obviously, one of the main drivers of growth is the company’s ability to add more inventory around the world at an astonishing rate, up from 3,000 in 2009 to somewhere in the region of 2.3 million this year.
Its monthly active users on mobile have also doubled from the first quarter in 2014 to the same period in 2016.
7Park estimates the company is now worth around $25.5 billion.
Still, Airbnb remains a small player in terms of global accommodation inventory, with hotels accounting for 87% of the overall pie.
Lead internet analyst at 7Park, Byrne Hobart, says:
“One of the greatest market uncertainties is how much Airbnb’s growth affects total travel spending, and how much of this effect comes at the expense of online travel agents.
“The future impact of this unknown dynamic is significant.”
Currently, 7Park estimates the humble online travel agency has not seen any significant impact from Airbnb.
This is largely due to Airbnb’s growth is coming from “mostly incremental travel spend”.
In other words, Airbnb customers are apparently using the service on trips they otherwise wouldn’t take.
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