The future of hotel chains

Over the past few years the sharing economy has grown tremendously, disrupting the traditional tourism industry via the mass deployment of exponentially increasing capacity. In this new economy, ownership and access are shared by individuals creating, broadcasting and exchanging their own products and services. Rather than compete against the sharing economy, hotel chains have the opportunity to oversee this communal sharing and leverage the strength of their brands by extending them to peer-to-peer (P2P) rentals. This potential future of P2P rentals offers an attractive option for guests looking for a unique stay free of the current uncertainty of the informal economy in safety, legality and quality. This paper introduces propositions regarding the future state of the P2P rental market, presents a scenario detailing branded marketplaces, discusses the drivers of change, explores branding considerations and offers recommendations for future research.