Airbnb believes that individual hosts, rather than professional property managers, are one of its biggest advantages over competitors Vrbo and Booking.com. According to Airbnb’s Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz, individual hosts on Airbnb have higher ratings on average than professional hosts, challenging the assumption that professional hosts provide better quality. Mertz emphasized that individual hosts can provide high-quality hospitality despite the misconception that professional hosts are superior.
The majority of hosts on Airbnb are individuals who do not use property management software, with most of them having only one listing. Airbnb defines individual hosts as those who do not use property management software. This sets Airbnb apart from Vrbo and Booking.com, whose listings are predominantly professionally managed and cross-listed across multiple platforms. Individual hosts on Airbnb tend to have exclusive listings on the platform, while professional property managers often list on several sites simultaneously.
Airbnb was initially built for individual hosts, but the platform also welcomes professional hosts. While professional hosts provide a minority of Airbnb’s listings, they play a significant role in filling supply gaps, especially in regions where they dominate. In contrast, Booking.com has focused on adding more professional hosts as it expands its short-term rental business in the U.S., making it easier to scale listings by onboarding property managers with thousands of listings at once.
Mertz stated that Airbnb has an advantage over Vrbo, which primarily focuses on whole homes, as Airbnb offers a diverse range of listing types. While Vrbo’s strength lies in U.S. vacation rental markets, Airbnb has a more extensive global footprint and offers a wider variety of listings. Mertz highlighted that Vrbo’s supply is relatively small-scale compared to Airbnb’s inventory, which includes everything from single rooms to whole properties.
According to analytics firm AirDNA, 70% of Airbnb hosts at the end of 2023 had only one listing on the platform, totaling 3.5 million hosts. This data reinforces the notion that the majority of hosts on Airbnb are individual hosts rather than professional property managers. By leveraging its network of individual hosts, Airbnb aims to maintain its competitive edge in the short-term rental industry and differentiate itself from rivals like Vrbo and Booking.com.
Overall, Airbnb’s focus on individual hosts as a key differentiator in the industry challenges the conventional wisdom that professional property managers offer better quality. By prioritizing individual hosts and their unique offerings, Airbnb seeks to provide a more personalized and diverse lodging experience for guests. As the platform continues to expand and compete with other players in the market, the role of individual hosts and their exclusive listings remains a crucial factor in Airbnb’s ongoing success.
