Thursday Buzz: Airbnb Wins Over Hotel Customers

It’s tough to choose between a nice, carefree hotel experience and a cozy space that feels like home. But research shows that travelers may be leaning toward staying in someone else’s private residence.

A newly released study by Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., offers some interesting tidbits about today’s travel trends and how house- and apartment-sharing service Airbnb is affecting the accommodations industry, particularly hotels.

The study of 2,000 U.S. households revealed something that could be troubling for the hospitality industry: Once people try Airbnb, HomeAway, or FlipKey, they often don’t go back to hotels.

“If people have stayed in peer-to-peer lodging [P2P] in the last five years, the likelihood that they prefer traditional hotels is halved (79 percent vs. 40 percent),” said Steven Kent, managing director of research on lodging, gaming, and leisure at Goldman Sachs, according to Skift  (opens in a new tab).

“We find it interesting that people ‘do a 180’ in their preferences once they use P2P lodging. They move directly from preferring traditional hotels to preferring P2P accommodations,” Kent added.

Younger travelers are more aware of P2P services and use them more often. People with higher incomes know about these accommodation options, but those in the highest income brackets don’t often take advantage of them.

What could this mean for meetings held at hotel conference spaces? If people prefer to stay at a peer-to-peer space, could that mean they might skip the room block for the next annual meeting? It’s a trend for associations to keep an eye on.

Infographic of the Day

How to behave in biz mtgs in 18 countries. https://t.co/BsUL5SMVlz  (opens in a new tab) #eventprofs  (opens in a new tab) #hsmai  (opens in a new tab) @meetDMAI  (opens in a new tab) #ISES  (opens in a new tab)

— Meetings Today (@meetingstoday) February 17, 2016  (opens in a new tab)

Do you travel often to network or do business with people around the world?

Well, things can get a bit awkward when meeting with people in other countries—cultural differences, tonal differences, you get the idea. Fortunately, the communication service GetVoIP has some suggestions on how to avoid the awkward  (opens in a new tab). A GetVOIP infographic has advice for how you should conduct yourself in a business meeting that may be in, say, Brazil, China, Mexico, or the United Kingdom. (The infographic covers 18 different countries.) The company tells you how to greet someone, how to dress, and how to dine.

Links for your Day

Get involved in the first ever Global Meetings Industry Day this April. This year’s international launch  (opens in a new tab) is an expansion of North American Meetings Industry Day, from Meetings Mean Business.

Mobile is the future. What does a “mobile-first” mindset really entail? Eric Stahl, vice president of product marketing for Salesforce Marketing Cloud, dives into that question at CMSWire  (opens in a new tab).

You know what the smartest and most successful people do? They read. Writer Lolly Daskal at Inc. shares how she read  (opens in a new tab) 365 books in a year. She has tips to help you read more, even if you can’t manage a book a day.

(Effie Yang/Flickr)