Airbnb is preferred over hotels by 56% of millennials in Mexico, according to new market research.
Moreover, more Airbnb guests are satisfied with their lodging experience — 81% compared to 74% for hotels. And more of them are likely to recommend Airbnb to family and friends, 63% vs. 47% for hotels.
Airbnb is the dominant online booking platform, allowing homeowners to compete with hotels for guests.
These results are from a recent study conducted by Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) that explored the attitudes of travelers in Mexico towards both hotels and Airbnb.
“Airbnb has grown rapidly in Mexico in recent years, with listings expanding by 53% in 2018,” said Ricardo Alvarez, director of the Consumer Services/Ecommerce Practice for AMI. “Since it’s clearly having a disruptive effect on the hotel industry and we study disruption in Latin America, we wanted to examine how Mexican travelers feel about both Airbnb and hotels to understand the disruption drivers.”
Conducted last spring, AMI’s study also concludes:
- 52% of Mexican travelers choose Airbnb based on price.
- 81% of respondents favor hotels over Airbnb when traveling to a dangerous city.
- Airbnb guests are slightly more likely to have what they term an “exceptional” experience compared to hotel guests.
- The average Airbnb lodging spend in Mexico is 54% higher than the average hotel spend.
- Nearly twice as many travelers favor hotels for business travel over Airbnb.
- Airbnb guests age 18-34 are more than twice as likely to recommend it rather than hotels. Overall, Airbnb guests are more likely to recommend it over hotels (63% vs. 47% for hotels).
These findings should be taken as constructive guidance for hoteliers, said Alvarez.
“While Airbnb’s advantages in certain areas suggest why it’s been successful in disrupting the hotel industry, hotels also have advantages they can use to retain or expand their market share. They just need to understand them, and research like this could help,” he said.
AMI is a Florida-based market intelligence and strategy consultancy with offices in Latin America, the U.S. and Germany.
