FALL 2015 California Hotel & Lodging Association 17 How do you see Airbnb changing the hotel industry? I think there are four lessons to be learned from Airbnb’s democratization of hospitality: (a) many guests want a truly localized experience especially in neighborhoods outside of the tourist destinations; (b) travelers have a much higher standard of what they expect digitally so your website and booking experience must be first-rate especially on mobile; (c) guests are looking to pay for the services they need and many guests don’t need daily maid service especially for a longterm stay; and (d) great travel companies personalize the experience for a guest—much like Amazon, Netflix and Spotify do—such that the more you use the product, the better the company knows how to deliver just the right experience for you. Do you believe that Airbnb and the hotel industry can peacefully co-exist? While I sold Joie de Vivre, the management company and brand, in 2010, I still have an ownership interest in 17 hotels so I’m still a big believer in what hotels offer. This isn’t a zerosum game as the core road warrior/business traveler who stays 2–3 nights in each location will always prefer hotels due to proximity to business centers, the ease of 24-hour a day check-in and -out, and the variety of services hotels offer. Our average length of stay for our business travelers is nearly a week. What many people don’t know is that nearly 20% of our room nights in major markets is people staying 30 days or longer so lots of travelers who are doing project work or who are relocating use Airbnb as their means to do an extended stay or a way to find an apartment. There are times when I personally choose a hotel over a shared home for convenience and services. And, of course, it’s great to have room service. Where do you see Airbnb in five years? Over time, you’ll see us become more and more of a broader travel company and not exclusively focused on accommodations. Additionally, with more than 70% of our business outside of the United States, you’ll see us continue to grow in Asia and in vacation rentals, two of our fastest growing areas of the company. What trends do you currently see in the boutique hotel industry? It’s been fascinating to watch the hotel chains become more like boutique hotels and the boutiques—like Kimpton, Joie de Vivre and others—become more standardized (in positive ways) in their offerings. But, what’s great about the boutique hotel business is there’s some resourceful local entrepreneur creating an idiosyncratic hotel somewhere in the world every week. While innovative design and localized, fun F&B have always been at the heart of the boutique hotel experience, it’s encouraging to see that the whole hotel industry is realizing that success today comes from creating a product that guests fall in love with and then, through social media, they tell their friends. For a boutique hotel, it’s better to create a hotel that 100 guests deeply love than one that 1,000 guests merely like.
CH LA Lodging News Fall 2015
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