Airbnb has changed a lot since its humble couch-surfing beginnings in 2007. What started as a way for homeowners to earn extra income by renting out their spare bedrooms has become a multibillion-dollar, industry-disrupting giant.
The majority of travelers now rent entire residences rather than stay with hosts. Nights booked at private rooms made up only 16% of U.S. short-term rental bookings in May 2023, an all-time low, according to a report from AirDNA, a short-term rental analytics company. Tap to View In other words, almost three in four Airbnb ABNB listings are now managed by hosts with more than one property in their portfolio. This trend raises the question: Is staying with a mega-host good for travelers?The effect on guest experience Staying at someone’s guesthouse has its charms. If the hosts live nearby, they might offer local recommendations or provide other personalized touches.
On the surface, this seems to suggest that properties managed by big companies offer a consistently worse experience. But Jamie Lane, chief economist at AirDNA, suspected something else was going on. The more units a host owns, the lower the average communication rating. Lane suggests that this makes sense given the lack of personal interaction from larger-scale hosts.