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Comment by cft | Hacker News Reader

No, since AirBnb or Uber do not want to own anything, only their code and servers, much like eBay does not own/stock merchandise.

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Most hotels do not own their own real estate.

Yes, they follow the franchise model. What differentiator would an AirBnB hotel franchise bring to that table? Their brand?

There's no particular reason that wouldn't be successful, but it makes about as much sense as them branching out into the ketchup-making business.

Part of being a franchisee means access to their software/booking system.

Being a Marriott hotel means you have access to Marriott customers on Marriott.com and other sites through their systems. That's not much different than AirBnB.

Of course! My point is that AirBnB's private rental business would give it no significant competitive advantage to Mariott in the franchised hotel industry. At best, it would give them a cross-product marketing channel... While marrying themselves to a lot of financial, and brand risk.

They may as well take that money, and invest it into <Insert non-core competency of AirBnB>. Or, alternatively, partner with an existing hotel franchise.

Managing other people's properties, on the other hand, is a natural extension of their core business.

Is this true? Sorry I need a little more proof than one sentence.

Yep, definitely. Here's a quick look at Marriott's ownership structure, which is an operating model shared by many other global hotel brands:

http://marketrealist.com/2014/10/why-marriotts-hotels-have-s...

Here's the big hotel operator in Austin. One operator, all of the hotel brands: http://www.whitelodging.com/portfolio/hotels

Check the lobby and surrounding area next time you're staying at a big hotel chain. Oftentimes you'll find a plaque that mentions the operating company name. Certainly the case with the Palo alto Sheraton I frequent.

What'll someone's happen is that the building and management don't change, yet the hotel brand will change.

In the eyes of Uber, a self-driving is nothing but a server with wheels and a seat attached to it. :D

Actually airbnb does not even own its servers apparently: it's on AWS/Akamai.

> a self-driving car is nothing but a server with wheels and a seat

and liability

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