Collaborative Consumption and the Opportunity for Travel Professionals

Summary

Airbnb and Uber should by now be on most travelers' radars. But these companies are just the leading edge of a broader global phenomenon: sharing unused or underutilized assets with others who are usually total strangers. Part of the goal behind collaborative consumption - sometimes known as the sharing or peer-to-peer economy - is to provide services at lower costs and enable full use of facilities, minimizing the need for further investment and development, and ultimately making the world a more affordable place with less waste. Part of the goal, too, is to make money. Regardless of providers' intentions, the peer-to-peer marketplace rests on three main principles: 1) trust, 2) emphasis on access rather than ownership and 3) the experience an activity offers, rather than ownership and control.