Airbnb driving down occupancy, revenue at Miami hotels: Moody’s

Airbnb is driving down occupancy and revenue at Miami area hotels, according to a recently released report by Moody’s Investors Service.

Miami ranks as the nation’s third largest market for Airbnb, with 11,348 listings as of Sept. 12. Only New York and Los Angeles have a higher volume of listings. Yet as a percent of total lodging available, Miami ranks second with Airbnb representing 17.5 percent of the market, the report on the nation’s hotel and cruise industry noted.

Both New York and Miami, which have the highest concentrations of Airbnb listings, also have declining hotel revenue per available room year-to-date through August.

“We believe Airbnb is one of the drivers of the weak occupancy and [average daily rate] in New York and Miami,” the report said. In addition to the effects of Airbnb, Miami is also being hurt by the strong U.S. dollar, which has curtailed international travel, Moody’s added. The report did not cite Zika, which is also having a dampening effect on tourism.

Year-to-date through August, occupancy at Miami area hotels slipped by 1.3 percent, the average daily rate fell by 2 percent, and revenue per available room dropped by 3.3 percent, according to the report, which used data from Smith Travel Research and Airdna.com.

Peggy Benua, immediate past board chair of the Greater Miami and Beaches Hotel Association, said the organization is aware of Airbnb’s growth and the competition it poses.

“We have a growth in supply, so this is adding to the growth, but it’s not something we haven’t been prepared for and are watching,” Benua told The Real Deal, adding that demand for lodging overall, including Airbnb, is up.

Moody’s is lowering its outlook for both the U.S. lodging and cruise industries to stable from positive, saying it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to slow to 4 percent to 6 percent in 2017, following three years of strong growth.

Here is Moody’s chart of the top five Airbnb markets’ number of Airbnb listings and hotel rooms, with Airbnb as a percentage of total lodging and August YTD growth in occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room: