An Analysis of The Impact of Short-Term Vacation Rentals on the Hotel Industry

Much scholarly attention has been paid to Airbnb’s influence on the hotel industry. However, extant studies have limitations because they consider only Airbnb while overlooking various other short-term vacation rental players that can also affect performance of hotels. To address this research gap, this study aims to provide a broader understanding of the impacts of short-term vacation rentals by analyzing data obtained from various vacation rental platforms. This study shows that while increase in short-term vacation rentals has an overall negative effect on hotel performance, the economic effect is more significant in the low-end market than in the high-end market. Our findings further reveal that the negative effect is reduced when there is a large price difference between short-term vacation rentals and hotels. By comprehensively examining multiple sources of data on hotels and vacation rentals, this study brings alternative perspectives to the attention of researchers for further investigation of vacation rentals.