According to an analysis by STR, Inc., Airbnb’s presence and rates across New York, New York, make the short-term rental company a formidable competitor to the market’s hotel industry.
As of 1 May 2015, Inside Airbnb listed 27,000 Airbnb units in New York City, 55% of which were entire home/apartment units. The remaining Airbnb inventory in the market comprised 42% private room and 3% shared room. According to Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP for lodging insights, “entire unit rentals are squarely aimed at competing with hotel rooms.”
When looking specifically at New York City’s five boroughs, STR narrowed the sample of Airbnb listings to units competitive with traditional hotel rooms; units available at least five days over the following three months; and units that had been reviewed in 2015. STR also excluded units that had a stay minimum of more than three nights.
With those criteria in place, STR showed 8,615 Airbnb listings in the five boroughs, compared to 105,635 hotel rooms available. In four of five boroughs, Airbnb inventory competitive with traditional hotel rooms made up between 4% and 6% of the market. However, in Brooklyn, Airbnb room share of the same kind accounted for 38% of the market.
On average across the boroughs, hotel room rate was US$289. Rate of Airbnb units competitive with traditional hotel rooms was US$256.
The charge varied widely by submarket. For the four boroughs with comparative data available, STR showed the following for hotel ADR: Brooklyn (US$184), Manhattan (US$315), Queens (US$147) and Staten Island (US$129).
Airbnb listing price for units competitive with traditional hotels was: Brooklyn (US$200), Manhattan (US$292), Queens (US$157) and Staten Island (US$342).
In three of the four boroughs, the average rate of Airbnb units competitive with traditional hotels was higher than hotel ADR. The submarket with the largest rate gap, Staten Island, included high-end units with nightly rates of more than US$1,000.
“Airbnb units are a material addition to the New York City hotel room inventory,” Freitag said. “Hotel owners and managers have to be aware that the competition in their neighborhood is shifting and changing. Airbnb inventory is here and here to stay, and we will continue to monitor and report on trends and data as they become available.”
