Check out this Venn diagram from Transparent, which dramatically illustrates how one dimensional the distribution strategies are of most short term rental property managers – just 15% are using a multi-channel strategy – and of course the market dominance of Airbnb.
Transparent explains: “In addition to booking power, Airbnb controls the lion’s share of inventory and exclusivity, and today a relatively small percentage of listings appear on more than one channel.
“Over half of all (global) whole-home inventory appears on Airbnb, two-fifths appear on Booking, and one-fifth appear on Expedia.
“Airbnb supply exclusivity has however eroded a little in mature markets – in Europe and the US, Airbnb host exclusivity is still high (50%+ of hosts are exclusive), but there is a steady trend of these hosts starting to use other channels.
“In younger, faster growing markets like Asia and Latin America though, a greater percentage of hosts remain exclusive and there is no evidence yet of hosts moving into other channels.”