Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Airbnb profits the idea of letting travelers rent a lodging facility or extra space from a local resident rather than a traditional hotel. While P2P (peer-to-peer) room-sharing services still remain to be Airbnb’s core business at this point, the company is aiming for something bigger --- Airbnb wants to be a travel enterprise . If that’s the case, will Airbnb soon become another giant OTA (online travel agent) like Expedia or Priceline? I bet it would, just by looking at what Airbnb rolled out recently. Airbnb Experiences Airbnb launched a new line of business --- “ Airbnb Experiences ” back in November 2016. While Airbnb Experiences might  not be as successful  as what the company had anticipated, this line of business is supposed to bring enriching experience for travelers staying in a destination. Airbnb Experiences offer services ranging from a bicycle or food tour to a music-recording experience in a real studio, which goes beyond the company’s core P2...

Airbnb is the dominant provider of room-sharing services. The company is now turning itself into a  full-service travel enterprise . With the debut of two new brands,  Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb , its room-sharing services are expected to appeal to even more travelers. For many, it is a  "cool thing" to stay in an Airbnb . Well…only if they did not get turned down or  kicked out  by a host. Two years ago, an African-American man filed a  lawsuit against Airbnb  for the company’s ignorance of the hosts’ race discrimination, as he had found it very difficult to get his reservation requests accepted by a host. That's not cool at all, is it? Unlike business entities, such as  hotels  and  online travel agents  (OTAs) that usually accept or decline a consumer’s reservation request strictly based on vacancy and price, without any assessment on the consumer’s demographic or social-economic backgrounds, room-sharing websites sole...

With the debut of two new brands this month ---  Airbnb Plus and Beyond by Airbnb , Airbnb is expected to appeal to even more travelers in the market. Airbnb, as well as other room-sharing websites, are making huge disruptions to the lodging industry. On one hand, room-sharing websites add a tremendous amount of inventory to the market by enabling any consumers with extra living space to run a business as a lodging operator. On the other hand, room-sharing websites introduced innovative changes to the traditional online reservation process as what is commonly used by  hotels  and  OTAs (online travel agents) . As business entities, hotels and OTAs will usually accept or decline a consumer's reservation request strictly based on vacancy and price, without any assessment on the consumer's demographic or social-economic backgrounds. Room-sharing websites provide the cyber marketplace for travelers and hosts where they can be connected. The reservation process on r...