Assessing Airbnb as a disruptive innovation relative to hotels: Substitution and comparative performance expectations

Abstract

Millions of tourists have used Airbnb accommodations, and Airbnb is frequently discussed in terms of its current or future impacts on hotels. The purpose of this research was to investigate such impacts by determining the extent to which Airbnb is used as a hotel substitute and to examine how Airbnb guests expect their accommodations to perform relative to hotels. Together, these analyses were intended to provide empirical insight into Airbnb’s status as a disruptive innovation. The study involved an online survey of over 800 tourists who had used Airbnb within the previous year. Nearly two-thirds had used Airbnb as a hotel substitute. When considering traditional hotel attributes (e.g., cleanliness and comfort), Airbnb was generally expected to outperform budget hotels/motels, underperform upscale hotels, and have mixed outcomes versus mid-range hotels, signalling some – but not complete – consistency with the concept of disruptive innovation. Numerous practical and theoretical implications are discussed.