The wave of Airbnb clones is a proof that the industry has huge potential. With the infrastructure naturally in place already, all one needs is the basic know-how and stealing market share from hotels becomes reality.
Given the enormous capital needed to expand the traditional hospitality business model, it is highly likely that hotel companies will look to copy the sharing economy models and adapt them to match their interests.
This may see the big players acquiring stakes in new start-ups and/or putting together new subsidiaries to replicate the new model inside their own operation.
What hotels have is standards and service delivery consistency and if they move fast enough, they may strike gold by learning to use this vast resource represented by the individual units available everywhere in the world.
While it is too early to talk about consolidation in the industry, it is very interesting to monitor the VC funding trends and if the big names will continue to test the waters in this field.
The most representative example is last year's surprise move when AccorHotels, the giant French hotel chain announced the acquisition of a leading UK Short-term Holiday rentals start-up, One Fine Stay for more than £100mil.
[http://press.accorhotels.group/accorhotels-becomes-a-world-leader-in-the-luxury-serviced-homes-market-by-acquiring-onefinestay/]
I am convinced that 2017 will see more acquisitions, proving that hotel chains want the biggest slice of a pie that promises to reinvent tourism at a scale last seen with the advent of trains, which in turn helped launch the modern-day tourism.
As I explain in my book, Safe And Profitable Short-Term And Holiday Rentals: A Complete Guide For Property Owners , on sale on Amazon, property owners can put their assets to work relatively quickly and easily but this won't last as the hotel chains will close the gap and add their hospitality expertise to the mix very soon.
It is an exciting development in an industry considered quite boring and easy to manage and I will keep my finger on its pulse with great interest.
Happy rentals people!
BV in London, UK
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