Purpose
Although Airbnb has always described and presented itself as a complement to the hospitality industry, previous studies have shown that it is fully consistent with the theory of disruptive innovation. Therefore, this research aims to identify the hotel managers' perspectives about previous studies' findings regarding Airbnb.
Design / approach / methodology
Three approaches have been relied upon: descriptive, analytical and explanatory. Field data were collected using
a survey form (400 questionnaires) directed to a random sample of department managers and their assistants in a random sample of five-star hotels in Greater Cairo (15 hotels) and Sharm El Sheikh (25 hotels).
Hotel managers are underestimating the threat of the sharing economy (Airbnb) to Egypt's hospitality industry's future, and as a result, they lack effective plans and preparations to deal with this disruptive phenomena.
Practical implications
The results indicate the need to enact laws to regulate sharing economy platforms in the hospitality industry in order to maximize their positives and minimize their negatives, such as tax laws, security laws, customer and host protection.
Originality/value
Most of the previous studies on this topic either compared the financial performance data in both hotels and Airbnb platform, or they dealt with the analysis of customer impressions and experiences of this phenomenon, but there is rarely a study to identify the perceptions of hotel managers about the results of previous studies regarding the Airbnb platform, especially in Egypt.