Hilton is one of the largest and well-known hotel chains in the world. Airbnb has been taking business away from it and other hotel companies. The latest data shows that it may have been causing some serious headaches for hotel companies. Americans spent more on Airbnb than they did on Hilton in 2018.
The latest data from Second Measure, a company which analyzes billions of dollars in anonymized debit and credit card purchases, reveals that consumers in the country spent more money on Airbnb in 2018 than they did on Hilton and its subsidiary chains such as Embassy Suites and DoubleTree.
In fact, spending at Airbnb is almost catching up to spending at Marriott, which happens to be the largest hotel company in the world. It expanded even further in 2016 when it acquired Starwood back in 2016.
The data reveals a growth of approximately 30 percent last year in U.S. consumer spending on Airbnb. The bulk of that growth, according to Second Measure, is being driven by travelers who live in the central U.S. A third of Airbnb’s customers are from states like New York, Florida, and California.
Airbnb has also been expanding its offers to better compete with the hotel chains. It now allows customers to book boutique hotels through the platform which was primarily for people to rent out spare rooms in their home. It has also acquired HotelTonight, a last-minute hotel booking website to better compete in the mainstream market.