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by 7Figures2Commas
3981 days ago
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You have listed numerous reasons why AirBnB doesn't have a potentially superior product. AirBnB has limited control over the guest experience. For instance, delivering instant booking would be difficult, and it can't guarantee consistently fast WiFi. It could conceivably incentivize hosts to offer certain amenities, but not all hosts will offer them, they won't be implemented the same way and in many cases this could negatively impact price. Where a host doesn't live up to AirBnB's standards, AirBnB would often have a limited ability to rectify the situation promptly. Cobbling together features like gym access through partnerships is not very appealing. Depending on the location of an AirBnB rental, it could in many cases be incredibly inconvenient to have to travel to a gym, and folks used to staying at higher-end hotels are not going to be thrilled with access to 24 Hour Fitness. Gyms like Equinox have no incentive to partner with AirBnB so that somebody renting a room for a few nights can use a facility that members pay a premium to keep somewhat sheltered from the riff raff. |
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You'd be surprised at the quality of both WiFi and gyms at high-end hotels.
Standard Xfinity 25 Mbps would have easily beat the outdated WiFi at most luxury hotels (many of these were early adopters of enterprise internet service, thus signed up for long contracts at now outdated speeds)
I would have killed to have access to a 24-Hour Fitness over the gyms at 99% of hotels I stayed at. Most were the size of a small room with 3-5 treadmills, a couple of cycles, and if I was lucky, some outdated weight equipment and a water cooler. I bought national access to any location, so I'd often opt to take a 5-minute Uber (another partnership opportunity) to a remote location rather than using the hotel gym.
I think there is huge potential for them to cobble together an experience with already-existing partners that meets and surpasses a luxury hotel experience. Loyalty programs are already heading here across the Travel industry (SPG+Uber, Delta+Emirates+SPG, United+Uber, etc.). AirBnb should be crushing these given their superior engineering talent and Bay Area location.
If they don't get to it quickly, then somebody else in SF will - Uber, Workday, Zenefits, Hipmunk...