6. Discussion
As Airbnb registers booming numbers in the world, and in Paris in particular, it has fuelled heated discussions and fear amongst hoteliers. Moreover, as the impact of new businesses in the sharing economy, such as Airbnb, spans beyond the competitive and economic aspects, it is imperative at this stage to start examining the phenomenon in more depth. As such, the purpose of this research note was not to calculate the extent of the impact of Airbnb on hotel businesses in Paris but to explore the intricate relationship between the Airbnb and hotel markets in Paris. We trust that it is an essential first step for future complementary empirical studies. We therefore explored the monthly data as well as the geographical distribution of Airbnb business across the Parisian districts. We hope that such an investigation will spark discussion about the direction for future research.
In particular, while our findings confirm that the volume of activity on the Airbnb platform is booming, they also show that performance results are mixed. The average occupancy has reached a plateau, ADR is slightly decreasing and profitability for hosts is dropping. Future research could explore the determinants of such patterns and their relationship, if any, with hotel's drivers of performance. In terms of the competitive threat that it can represent, our study shows different growth and seasonality patterns for Airbnb and hotels and dissimilarities in the geographical location of the offers. As Airbnb has boomed in Paris since its launch in 2009, the hotel business has also remained solid with an increase in supply and ADR. As for the seasonality patterns, they also differ for hotels and the platform as the latter manages fluctuating and seasonal supply. Finally, due to the difference in the nature of product offered, the location reflects the dissimilarities between P2P rentals and hotels. In sum, this exploration indicates that the two products are not in direct competition and that their relationship might be more complex than previously thought. We trust that exploring the nature of the competitive relationship (i.e., the impact of P2P accommodation rentals on the hotel business) would be a valuable avenue for further investigation. Although non-significant, the signs of the coefficients in the regression analyses point towards a different relationships between Airbnb and Hotel for the demand and supply sides. Future empirical investigations, could separate the demand from the supply effects of Airbnb on hotel sales performance.
