People who try Airbnb likely to keep using it

People who use home-share sites like Airbnb are less likely to go back to using hotels, according to a survey.

Treehouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Image by Airbnb Listing

If people had tried peer-to-peer rentals in the past five years, only 40% were likely to prefer hotels, while 79% of people who had not tried a home-share preferred a traditional hotel experiences. Of those who had tried peer-to-peer, 36% say they prefer to use it for their travel arrangements while 24% had no preference. Of those who had never tried peer-to-peer, only 2% said they would prefer it while 19% have no preference.

Bloomberg Business cites the new survey from Goldman Sachs, which indicates that once people try out a peer-to-peer rental lodging, the likelihood that they will return to booking regular hotels is halved. The survey was conducted with 2,000 US consumers.

A fully-functioning house by Airbnb floats down the Thames in London. Image by Mikael Buck/Airbnb/PA Wire

The survey also found that while younger people are typically more familiar with the sites, people of all ages are using them. They found that 67% of those surveyed between 18 and 24 had used a peer-to-peer rental in the last year, 75% between the ages of 25 and 34 had, and 64% of people between 35 and 44 had. For people over 45, between 23% and 29% of those surveyed had used the sites.

While younger travellers might be using such accommodation more often, the survey also shows it is not just broke students who use Airbnb – people’s familiarity with peer-to-peer lodging increased along with their income. The highest use of such accommodation is from people who earn between $70,000 and $119,999 per year at around 70%. That drops off to 50% for people who make more than $120,000 and is only at 38% for people who make less than $30,000.

Read more: Feast your eyes on Airbnb’s most desired properties with tree-houses top of list