I wonder about their long term business model. Sure they have opened up the industry, but I'd think its quite easy to copy them. Sure there are a bunch of people that will keep AirBnB their favorite but when I'm looking at places I'll religiously check every site I can. There will be nothing unique about them.
I'd also like to add that Airbnb has become a pretty widely adopted verb. Once a brand becomes a verb, overtaking and unseating that degree of brand recognition becomes a feat that I can't recall has ever been done before.
When I travel as a business user, I don't check any of the hotels apart from the top most brands. Sometimes, even if there is a 5 star hotel from a brand I don't know of, I wouldn't choose it over a 4 star hotel of a brand I do know of. The vast majority of business travelers behave (or book via their companies) the same way more or less.
When I'm choosing a place for a vacation, again, I'm looking at the top brands I know of, including AirBnB. Since the major hotels all resemble my business hotels, I'm more or less stuck looking at AirBnB rentals, simply because it's a more casual brand that I know of. I assume the vast majority of casual travelers are just like me.
I've had very good experiences using AirBnB in smaller towns, even in otherwise poorer places in Asia and Europe. On the contrary, I've had shitty AirBnB experiences, mostly in large cities in developed markets.
I disagree strongly on this point. Building up a two-sided marketplace is incredibly difficult. On the consumer side, consider that many younger travelers have zero affinity towards hotel chains, and manage their entire accommodations arrangement through AirBnB, which feeds into an absolute requirement for hosts to list on the platform. This is not simply two markets you can copy: the feedback loops are so powerful already.
