How Hotels Should Respond to the AirBNB Revenue Collapse

Since the bubble is starting to burst, there are some specific ways to grab customers who might have stayed in an AirBNB in years past.

In many markets, it’s become clear in past months that AirBNB now isn’t doing as well revenue-wise as one would have expected in years past. The data is by no means rock-solid in every market across the United States, given how vastly different places and circumstances can be.

Some of the locales that have hosted successful short-term housing will continue to do so for  a litany of reasons that are beyond the scope of this article. That said, there are some concrete ways to use the current situation to your advantage if you’re in a location where AirBNB has dropped since you may find potential customers in your community.

If you can, reframe your marketing and branding

You could very well bring in potential guests who would have otherwise picked an AirBNB. The costs associated with AirBNB and the ways that they can be disruptive in their respective communities have caught many over the years to grow cold to using them. Hotels bring a completely different set of pluses to the table, which include increased security and cleaning service that you don’t have to do yourself.

There is also a much lower chance of police interaction. Folks come and go out of hotels all the time, but that isn’t the case in residential neighborhoods. Nosy or vigilant neighbors may call the police since they don’t recognize your car or family. That scenario is less likely at a hotel for a litany of reasons. There’s no reason why you can’t revamp how you present your brand to the public given the ever-changing circumstances in your sector. Done correctly, it’s a way to get in front of different set of eyes than you would under other circumstances.

Ask customers why they chose you

It’s always useful knowing why people end up at your hotel. In this case, if you’re getting people who considered choosing an AirBNB or actually did so in the past, you can extract some value in gauging what the factors were that helped them make the decision to choose your hotel.

You can and should use that information to better prop yourself up against the AirBNB behemoth. If you’re in a more convenient location than most, make that clear. If rooms are cheaper, say so. If you provide a full breakfast or other amenities that can be hit or miss at an AirBNB, make such a fact prominent if possible. Folks have a litany of choices they may have considered before they chose your employer. Honor that wonderful choice by appreciating them enough to ask why, and smartly reinvest that information back into your business operations.

Consider how you can benefit from an oft-changing housing market

It’s common that hotel companies don’t always pay the rates that make finding housing an easy task. In and around tourist areas, the bottom rung of workers don’t always make enough to afford housing that does  not necessitate a long and unsustainable commute. If the opportunity presents itself, consider finding a building that might aid you in housing employees.

Letting a prospective employee know that housing is available can go a long way toward easing their minds as they consider a job offer. This is especially true for people coming out of state, and taking one big task off their plate could go a long way toward finding and keeping wonderful workers.

Your job from there would be to take care of the property so you can continue in perpetuity to provide thay benefit. In  an ideal scenario, you can take advantage of AirBNB owners who sell at a price lower than they would like because they don’t see the rental market playing out in the way they would like.