[forrestthewoods]

Why is that crazy? How many guests does Hyatt serve per year? How many does AirBnB serve today? How many could AirBnB serve with continued growth for the next five years?

And of course the elephant in the room, how many will AirBnB serve if regulations are enforced? Also an open question of will AirBnB be commoditized and have its value spread across dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of competitors across the globe?

[runako]

Worth noting (for better or worse, depending on your viewpoint) is that Hyatt's valuation includes a ton of real estate in prime locations around the world:

http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?F...

Those are no doubt a factor in Hyatt's valuation.

[pdq]

HomeAway is public and worth $4 billion today. I'm pretty skeptical AirBNB is worth more than twice that.

[kyrra]

Ya, seems pretty odd. We'd have to see AirBNB's revenue to to see if its really worth that price. As well, I believe HomeAway has a higher number of listings than AirBNB does.

Initially AirBNB had the advantage that it allowed for one-time postings of a property (as HomeAway would charge annually to post a property). But HomeAway has recently added per-booking fee if you are only posting once or twice a year.

At this point, I feel like AirBNB doesn't offer anything HomeAway already does. So unless AirBNB has some amazing growth potential or revenue, I don't see $10bn being likely.

[notlisted]

Hyatt owns property, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt#Notable_properties

[notlisted]

AirBnB had 200k listings and claimed 3MM guests at the end of 2012. I do suspect the average AirBnB stay is shorter.

Do note, from the Hyatt 2012 10-K "As of December 31, 2012, our worldwide portfolio consisted of 500 properties (135,144 rooms and units)."

With availability of 300-365 nights a year, unlike AirBnB, this amounts to more than 40-49MM room-nights they can sell. Occupancy rates varies of course, but even at 70% average, that's a whole bunch more people than AirBnB.