Peer-to-peer-travel: is Airbnb a friend or foe to hotels?

Purpose The sharing economy has caught great attention from researchers and policymakers. However, due to the dearth of available data, not much empirical evidence has been provided. This paper aims to empirically assess the impacts of Airbnb on hotel performances in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach Using South Africa as a case study, the study measures the impacts of Airbnb on hotel performances on three key metrics, namely, room prices, occupancy and Revenue per available room (RevPAR). A difference-in-difference model is estimated using a population-based data set of 809 hotels from 2016 to 2018. Findings The results reveal that despite Airbnb significantly and negatively impacting on hotel occupancies it has a non-significant effect on hotel prices and RevPAR. Although from the theoretical perspective a disruptive innovation business model such as Airbnb can possibly have a negligible effect on hotel performances because it may attract a different group of customers and create a new market, the empirical findings of this study fail to support this theoretical hypothesis. Consequently, the findings diverge with newly developed knowledge in other markets and point to nuanced and contextual complementary effects. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, this study is the first in South Africa to provide empirical evidence that Airbnb is significantly changing consumption patterns in the hotel industry, as opposed to generating purely incremental economic activity.