Airbnb plans Alpine offensive

Airbnb arranges over one million private accommodations worldwide and earns money with every booking - 20 million in 2014. Christopher Cederskog, Head of Europe, revealed the new growth strategy to the newspaper at the World Tourism Forum in Lucerne. Talks are currently being held with municipalities and tourism organizations in ski and hiking regions in Switzerland, which has been rather neglected to date. For the time being, the focus is not on the big names such as Zermatt, St. Moritz or Gstaad.

In Switzerland, the majority of people are interested in working with Airbnb, the platform known as the "hotel scare" - even in the larger towns. Roberto Rivola from Engandin St. Moritz says that they are open to all offers that increase sales and can imagine working together. Zermatt and Gstaad Saanenland Tourism are also open to cooperation, provided it suits both sides.

Switzerland Tourism states that this new form of accommodation is an issue for the association and that cooperation could be possible and sensible, provided that the same framework conditions apply to Airbnb as to all other commercial providers. This is in line with Hoteleriesuisse. The industry association had initially sharply criticized Airbnb, but now sees the platform as a "useful addition" to compensate for the lack of hotel beds at major events, for example. However, it is important that the playing field is level for all parties involved, says GL member Thomas Allemann. This refers, for example, to visitor taxes and expensive safety regulations that hotels have to comply with. According to Allemann, they are not primarily calling for more regulation, but could also imagine deregulation. The hotel association hopes that cooperation will bring Airbnb providers out of the shadow economy and into a competitive framework. (hae/SaS)