Airbnb foes are taking aim at one of the top reasons people use the site: They think it’s cheaper than a hotel.
A new report, funded in part by big hotel chains wary of the lodging upstart, claims that Airbnb’s average daily room rate in its top 20 markets was on par with that of the hotel industry in 2015.
In 10 cities, including Orlando, Chicago and New Orleans, Airbnb’s room rate was higher, according to the analysis from Share Better, a group that includes hotels, politicians and affordable housing advocates.
“Airbnb aggressively markets themselves as a cheaper alternative to hotels,” said Share Better’s Neal Kwatra. “In fact, their rates are just as high and in many cases higher than hotels in major cities across the country.”
Airbnb users often rent out entire homes. The report attempts to account for this by only considering listings that are comparable to a hotel room, such as condos and apartments of three bedrooms or less.
On that basis, Airbnb’s average daily room rate in its top 20 US markets in 2015 was $160.47, or just 2 percent less than that of hotels in those cities, the report said.
To be sure, the report also shows that Airbnb still enjoys a significant pricing advantage in the most densely populated tourist destinations, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Washington.
In the Big Apple, for example, a hotel room costs $263, or $63 more than a comparable Airbnb rental.
San Francisco-based Airbnb says the findings are bogus.
“This report is pure fiction — it dramatically overstates the cost of an Airbnb listing, ignores the private rooms and shared spaces that represent 40 percent of the listings in these 20 cities, and doesn’t distinguish between hotel rooms and the diverse offerings you can find on Airbnb,” said spokesman Peter Schottenfels.
“The fact is that Airbnb offers a more affordable and more authentic travel experience, and no amount of number fudging by a hotel industry front group can change that.”
Airbnb does not release booking information. Share Better used data from Airdna, which provides data services to real estate investors, along with publicly available hotel room rates.
In general, the typical Airbnb unit is twice the size of a hotel unit, according to Airdna, and excluded from the calculation are single family homes, shared or private rooms.
But putting aside the hotel vs. Airbnb battle, there’s reason to believe that the price gap between the two is narrowing in some cases.
“For Airbnb, the higher rates reflect more upscale units being added, more occupancy during peak periods and hosts becoming more experienced about pricing,” said Bjorn Hanson, a clinical professor with the New York University Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism.
At the same time, hotel room rates this year are expected to rise by 3.7 percent — the slowest growth rate since 2010, according to Hanson.
“The $100 billion question is whether Airbnb is a factor,” said Jan Freitag, senior vice president of STR, a hotel research company.