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Airbnb versus hotels —— Room for all, for now
租房網 VS 旅館：人人有房，就是現在
But there are signs that the sharing site is starting to threaten budget hotels
有信號顯示住房分享網站開始威脅快捷酒店
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EVEN as they lobby regulators to crack down on residential sharing services, hoteliers play down the threat such companies pose to their industry. The top brass at the Marriott, Four Seasons and Hilton chains have all said that these firms do not compete for their core market of accommodating high-end and business travellers; a vice-president of The Ritz-Carlton group recently claimed she had not even heard of Airbnb. And Airbnb itself agrees, arguing that it does not displace existing lodging but is creating new demand. "I'm optimistic that there isn't going to be a war" with hotels, Brian Chesky, its boss, said in January.
盡管旅店老板正遊說監管者取締住房分享服務，但他們仍淡化這類公司給其行業帶來的威脅。萬豪、四季、希爾頓的高管們說這類公司並沒有在他們的核心市場展開競爭 ; 麗嘉副總裁最近表示從來沒聽過 Airbnb。Airbnb 自身也這麼認為，聲稱其業務並沒有取代現存旅館而是創造瞭新需求。一月，Airbnb 老板佈萊恩說：" 我保持樂觀態度，將不會和旅館發生正面沖突。"
A recent study seems to confirm that, for now at least, Airbnb is only nibbling at the hotel industry's lunch rather than eating it whole. A team at Boston University examined hotel revenues in Texas, where Airbnb has grown much faster in some cities . They could not find a significant influence from Airbnb on business and luxury hotels. But in places where it has established a presence, it cut the revenues of budget hotels by 5% in the two years to December 2013.
最近一項研究似乎證實瞭這一觀點，至少就目前看來，Airbnb 隻是吃掉瞭這個產業的一小部分而不是一口全吃掉。波士頓大學的一個小組調查瞭德州酒店的收入情況，在這個州的某些城市，Airbnb 的增長快於該州其他城市。他們沒有發現 Airbnb 對商務酒店和豪華酒店的明顯影響。但在某些發展較好的地方，Airbnb 在截止 2013 年 12 月的兩年內蠶食瞭快捷酒店 5% 的收入。
If Airbnb were to keep growing at its current rate — its listings are doubling every year — the Texas study suggests that very soon the dent in budget hotels' takings will be 10%. With their high fixed costs, that could push many of them into the red. Of course, Airbnb may hit the limits of either supply or demand before then, but smaller hotels are already blaming it for their woes. "I see a direct correlation between our revenues going down and [ Airbnb's ] going up," says Vijay Dandapani, the president of Apple Core Hotels in New York. "We had continued growth until Airbnb." The financing round that Airbnb has just closed, valuing it at more than all but the four largest global hotel groups, suggests that investors agree.
德州的研究表明，如果 Airbnb 按目前每年翻倍的增長速度發展，很快將會削減快捷酒店 10% 的份額。因快捷酒店較高的固定成本，這將直接導致很對酒店出現赤字。當然，Airbnb 也會遇到自身供給和需求的限制，但小旅館們早就將自己的古難歸咎於 Airbnb。紐約蘋果核酒店管理公司總裁維賈伊說：" 我看到瞭我們酒店收入下滑和 Airbnb 收入增長的直接聯系，我們本該繼續增長的，直到 Airbnb 開始搶奪市場份額。"Airbnb 最新一輪融資剛剛結束，投資者相信其價值僅次於四大國際酒店管理集團。
Moreover, Airbnb is beginning to make inroads into business travel. Ever more companies are letting staff book their own itineraries, and giving them incentives to be thrifty. Google sets a budget for each trip, and employees who underspend them get credits they can donate to charity or use for future perks like flight upgrades.
此外，Airbnb 開始進軍商務旅行市場。更多的公司開始讓員工自己定行程，給他們節約的激勵。谷歌給每一個行程都設預算，員工節約下來的錢可以捐給慈善機構，也可以留下當做例如飛機升艙一類的未來福利。
Concur, a travel- and expense-management firm, has seen its corporate clients' Airbnb bookings grow from a rounding error at the start of 2012 to more than 1m so far this year. Much of this comes from groups looking for flats with multiple bedrooms and shared workspace. If Airbnb can integrate with online travel agencies such as Expedia and increase the share of its hosts that provide instant booking confirmation, business hotels may find themselves with a surprisingly unignorable competitor.
一傢旅行費用管理公司 Concur 見證瞭 Airbnb 的增長，2012 年初其客戶在 Airbnb 的業務量微乎其微，但今年現階段其業務量已經超過 100 萬美元。其中大部分業務來自尋找帶多間臥室並共享工作區域這類公寓的顧客。如果 Airbnb 能整合像 Expedia 這樣的網上旅行社，並增加能提供即時預訂確認的主機的共享程度，商務酒店或許會驚奇地發現一個不可動搖的強大競爭者。
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