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Though Airbnb continues to make headlines over its disruption of the travel industry , new research says that online travel agency kings Expedia ( EXPE ) and Priceline ( PCLN ) shouldn’t be as concerned as the hype suggests. In fact, Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman says in a research report Monday that Airbnb’s competitive pressure on the hotel industry may drive such businesses to further embrace Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor ( TRIP ). Airbnb is an online service that lets people rent homes, rooms in homes, and apartments to travelers. The report, based on a survey of 1,400 travelers, also indicated that Airbnb customers aren’t abandoning hotels at all — quite the opposite. It found that 99% used hotels and that many respondents predicted increasing their use of hotels in the coming year. And 72% of those surveyed said that they would consider an Airbnb competitor. All the major online travel agencies are making heavy investments in so-called alternative accommodations, or Airbnb-like inventory. Airbnb has come under fire as of late in its home city of San Francisco after the municipal government released a report indicating that most of its “hosts” — what Airbnb calls people renting property on the platform — aren’t obeying regulations . It’s unclear the extent to which illegal rentals on the site — it’s an issue in other major markets such as New York City as well — will have on the privately held company’s top line. According to the Wall Street Journal , Airbnb may have hauled in $850 million in revenue last year. In 2015, Airbnb waged a campaign to fight proposed new regulations that would have further tightened the short-term rental market in San Francisco. The company spent more than $8 million in fighting and defeating the proposed measure . Airbnb’s opponents have vowed to continue to fight. In early afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was up a fraction, near 1,281. Highly rated — its IBD Composite Rating is 92, where 99 is the highest — Priceline is forming a cup-with-handle base with a buy point of 1,371.63. TripAdvisor stock was down more than 2% Monday afternoon, while Expedia stock was flat. Those companies have weak CRs of 50 and 58, respectively. Image provided by Shutterstock . Scalper1 News
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