Hotel vs AirBnB

Thu, Jul 4, 2024 4:00 PM GMT

Full-service hotels capture the attention of guests

Full-service hotels, defined by STR (Founded in 1985, STR is the global leader in hospitality data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights.) as having multiple facilities onsite such as restaurants, are in high demand when it comes to accommodation preferences. Hotel accommodations are the most popular booking type, this property type has grown in favor recently over the AirBnB model. This is likely due to a shift in needs as consumers, eager to make up for lost time after restrictions, seek additional levels of service and comfort.

According to recent research by STR, modern-day travelers exhibit interesting accommodation preferences. Here are the key findings:

Hotel Popularity: 51% of travelers selected hotels as their top choice for an upcoming or recently undertaken trip. This represents a 4% increase compared to the same time last year. Despite this positive trend, hotel engagement slightly declined from May 2022 (51% versus 56%), likely due to seasonal travel patterns and alternative accommodation choices.

Short-Term Rentals: When asked about the most appealing accommodation for leisure trips, short-term rentals were perceived more favorably than hotels. However, there has been some progress since May 2022, indicating that hotels are closing the gap.

Urban Destinations: Urban destinations remain popular among travelers, with nearly half booking trips to cities. Interestingly, those choosing urban destinations are more likely to opt for hotels as their accommodation of choice. In contrast, visitors to rural destinations show greater interest in short-term rentals.

While hotels remain a preferred choice, hoteliers should focus on customer retention and winning back those who shifted to short-term rentals during the pandemic. Focusing on accommodations that give their guests a sense of home and comfort with custom designed hospitality furniture.

Looking to the furture

A sense of normality has returned for much of the hospitality industry since the second quarter of 2022 began. Bookings in many leisure destinations are at their highest levels since 2019, and business travel is also making a steady return. While there has been a subsequent and clear lift in hotel demand, it is interesting to see how consumers have viewed hotels vs. alternative forms of accommodation over the last several months.

In previous accommodation preference research conducted by STR, consumers showed improved sentiment toward hotels, identified the importance of flexible cancellation rates, and displayed higher tendency toward small and full-service hotels at a time when travel was really kicking into gear.

Hotels see popularity dip despite remaining preferred choice

Encouragingly for the hotel sector, 51% of travelers for an upcoming or recently undertaken trip selected a hotel as their top choice. Compared with findings from the same time last year, this was an increase of 4%. Indeed, since July 2021, most travelers have opted to use hotels, which signals strong underlying interest in this traditional form of accommodation.

Perhaps surprisingly considering improving hotel performance in recent months, there was a slight decline in hotel engagement compared with May 2022 (51% versus 56%). This is likely due to seasonal travel patterns, as some consumers chose different accommodation, such as camping and caravanning, or undertook different types of trips compared with earlier in the year.

The growth in bookings continues to improve and hotels and resorts are making sure they have the right accommodations to capture this growing trend.