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This article talks about how Airbnb has become more appealing to travelers than hotels. Airbnb has become one of the largest hospitality networks offering cheaper stays and more authentic experiences than hotels. However, hotels are not liking this as people are more likely to turn to Airbnb's. There have been many regulations that hotels are forced to face while Airbnb's have close to no regulations, making it easier to earn an income without any specific regulations. Airbnb's have caused hotels to turn to different methods of gaining more customers while competing against such a strong competition.

Its interesting that hotels and hotel chains have spent so much time effort and money on implementing standards and standardization over the past decade. AirBNB has limited standards other than the provision of accommodation. Standards were introduced as a tactical approach to consumer market by providing standardized and recognizable brand standards so that a traveler will know they staying in a Marriott for example. AirBNB success has turn that assumption on its head as travelers embrace differentiated product more related to finding a personalized choice that suits their personal tastes based on a more varied product offering. Hotel have been discussing personalization as a high level topic for many years now, more related to services and experience. Could it be that the success of AirBNB is actually an oversight of the hotel industry (perhaps explaining the significant increase in "Brands" by the largest hotel companies.) on the desire for travelers for personal spaces that are closer to the desires of the consumer.

MOD 11: This article is about Airbnb starting to penetrate the events and meetings sector of the hospitality industry. While their involvement is very minimal, Airbnb has offered booking accommodations for events nearby. Recently, Airbnb released a booking tool for meeting planners to showcase some of the Airbnb properties that would be nearby the event space. Airbnb's involvement in this new release would only be to provide economical accommodations for nearby events, the website wouldn't be used to provide specific details about the event. This new release of technology with Airbnb is very easy to use and almost anyone can look up potential trips using the tab Airbnb for Events on their website. There are some challenges that can occur with this new release, some being that meeting planners won't be able to negotiate discounts, nor will they be receiving commissions for people who book with Airbnb for Events. Also these Airbnb accommodations may not meet the expectations of the attendees for the event since they're use to staying in a clean-cut hotel room.

Reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and May 31, 2020, are covered by the policy and may be canceled before check-in. Guests who cancel will have a variety of cancellation and refund options, and hosts can cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status. Airbnb will either refund, or issue travel credit that includes, all service fees for covered cancellations. In order to cancel under the policy, you will be required to attest to the facts of and/or provide supporting documentation for your extenuating circumstance.

Airbnb wants to invest in Africa due to the many touristic attractions that bring in people from all over the world. Additionally, through this technology, they will boost people-to-people tourism in Africa, building a new economic engine for local families and their communities.

This article was about a young man who booked an AirBnb in Madrid and was sexually assaulted by the landlord. He sent texts to his mom asking her to help. When the mother called AirBnb to report this, they didn't respond in a timely manner and told her to call the Madrid police. The article brings up the question of security when booking AirBnb. One assumes when booking on this website, that AirBnb will try to protect its customers as much as possible but this was not the case in this particular situation. This matter was brought to the attention of AirBnb executives who want to bring about change and reinforced the policies and processes of a guest being in danger to the employees. They were better trained to know to call the police right away when the receive a report from a guest in danger.

Airbnb has paired with several of their hosts to offer free housing for individuals affected by Hurricane Dorian. This program was started back when Hurricane Sandy took affect but they have decided to bring back this concept and help those in need. In hospitality we must offer what we can at all times with arms open and Airbnb is offering shelter to those that lost it all.

A quick look at the ways Airbnb and Uber are disrupting the structure of lodging and traveling. From the oversight perspective, these services are being scrutinized to determine whether they violate various safety, insurance, tax, pricing, and liability laws. The peer-to-peer (P2P) is already making major disruption in the industry by sharing of resources like sharing a car and/or a rented house.

In this article, it is described why hotels are not as open to new innovative technology. Although they are now competing with companies like Airbnb, hotels still have a hard time adapting to new technology as they may need to change their infrastructure, or it cost too much to obtain. Overall, this article makes it clear that in order for hotels to compete in this new competitive market, they will need to continuously keep up with new forms of technology to stand a chance.

This article speaks about the CTO and Airbnb joining forces to embrace the growing demand for Digital Nomads to work and travel, with the "Work from the Caribbean" campaign, a possible win for all involved. With Airbnb, it is a solution to embrace the flexibility of its clientele and the CTO, an opportunity to increase revenue in the Caribbean destination, diversifying the way they do business while offering the sun, sand, and sea. This disruptive innovation will undoubtedly change immigration policies in accepting longer than previously allowed visitor stays and could see reduced nightly rates and discounts. The flexibility of working remotely is an opportunity to increase the 'tourism dollar' in off-peak months, additionally bringing possible investment in real estate for the Caribbean. With the application of research through technology, both entities can devise innovative ways to market to this ever-changing industry.

AirBnb and City Relay discuss how they are implementing sustainability in the short term vacation rentals that host travellers in their business platforms. Sustainability has become a very important trend in tourism which travellers highly consider and these businesses see sustainability as a way of increasing operational efficiency.

This article has very great in depth details on how Airbnb is disrupting the hospitality industry by essentially stealing business from hotels. 

While Airbnb is still one of the larger competitors the hotel industry is up against, at the NYU Hospitality Conference, a new possible disruptor was brought into question. Speakers began to discuss the possible disruption that online services like Google and Amazon to name a few. The advantages that these companies have, should they dive into the realm of hospitality, is the sheer amount of information that these sites contain about the consumer. Although they have this extensive data, they are lacking in interpersonal experience as these companies don't deal with the consumer physically. The hotel industry however, leads far ahead of these companies in this regard, as it's what they've been known for. However, for the hotel industry to ultimately come out on top, they will need to partner with these companies and work together, rather than be taken down. 

The article highlights major points of the next one hundred years for disruptors and innovators in the hospitality industry during a keynote webinar among female leaders at Cornell Nolan School of Business. According to one of the keynote speakers, Professor Kim, there is a difference between innovator and disruptor. Innovators create "new products, processes, or business models to create value for customers or employees," while disruptors "significantly change how the industry works". We are all aware of the major disruptor to the hotel industry which is Airbnb; however, according to the article, there are other disruptors such as CitizenM, a modular hotel company and Sonder, a short-term rental company. However, these disruptors should not be seen as competition because most start-ups actually fail. Hotels should rather make space for the disruptors and focus on enhancing on their companies' strengths. It is recommended that hotels formalize specialized teams that can create new products to build on the hotel's strengths. Personally, I believe that it is possible for smaller hotels to work in partnership with local Airbnbs. To do this, they can offer a specialized program with reputable Airbnb owners to offer their place as a recommendation with the same hotel perks if the hotel is fully booked. In this way, the hotel can take a percentage of profits rather than losing all profits to another hotel. Nonetheless, the implementation of cell phones is a driving force for innovation and disruption in the hospitality industry creating more convenience for guests. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is still driving innovation such as contactless technology, work from home arrangements, Virtual reality and Metaverse. In conclusion, the panelists commented that future disruptions are unpredictable, and companies must look at both smaller and larger companies for changes.

Over the few years, travel agents are using booking through Global distribution systems. Hotels however are having to pay a 20% booking fee when people book through GDS. Travel agents are also now using Airbnb, and alternative booking, because they aren't seeing any commissions on them. GDS is a large computer network that represents a single point of entry to travel agents and meta search sites. GDS are heavily used in the business and corporate travel accounts. GDS corporate business typically delivers more revenue for hotels because business travelers usually eat and drink in the hotel, rather than travel outside the hotel and spend money. Travel agents use commissionable and non-commissionable booking that, where commissionable bookings must add typically 8-10% agency commission on top of the GDS fees. GDS can be a good source of incremental bookings and increase margins.

Over the few years, travel agents are using booking through Global distribution systems. Hotels however are having to pay a 20% booking fee when people book through GDS. Travel agents are also now using Airbnb, and alternative booking, because they aren't seeing any commissions on them. GDS is a large computer network that represents a single point of entry to travel agents and meta search sites. GDS are heavily used in the business and corporate travel accounts. GDS corporate business typically delivers more revenue for hotels because business travelers usually eat and drink in the hotel, rather than travel outside the hotel and spend money. Travel agents use commissionable and non-commissionable booking that, where commissionable bookings must add typically 8-10% agency commission on top of the GDS fees. GDS can be a good source of incremental bookings and increase margins.

This article discusses Google's next steps in providing a better/ more efficient search and reservation system for travelers looking to book their next vacation rental. Google has been working with software providers and now successfully integrated vacation rentals into the Hotel Search function. The question is, will consumers shift from their normal purchasing habits (Booking.com, Expedia, etc) or will Google be successful?

This article portrays the belief that human interaction is very overrated in the hospitality industry. This author believes that rental services such as airbnb are proving that human interaction is unnecessary in hospitality and that hotels are wasting many resources by hiring too many people that technology could do the work for instead.

Having an integrated PMS for short term rentals can have many benefits. This allows the owner to work off of one system instead of several platforms. Automation from these platforms will help with guest scores and profitability.

It makes sense to have this system in place, work smarter not harder right? Technology is a beautiful things and can make owning a business or just renting our your vacation home so much easier.

Module 3: Networking (Rebecca Noble)