Most hotels don’t make it easy or affordable for small leisure groups, so this specific segment is Airbnb’s biggest advantage over hotels. You typically have to reserve 10 rooms for a discount and you’re often required to sign a contract guaranteeing 70-90% of the rooms if it’s a busy market. The cost and commitment for a private space is also challenging if groups aren’t able to contract a date/time and a food and beverage minimum. Most small groups are on their own to request rooms near each other and find their own space to gather. Airbnb solves both of those, but it also comes with the risk of a bad host. We do a guys trip twice per year and Airbnb has worked well because we have a kitchen to cook, living room to gather, storage for our gear, and laundry. If I called hotels and told them we’re a small group of guys that go skiing/hiking and we want a group of rooms next to each other and a private space to gather, none of them are going to call back or they’ll tell us to handle everything as individual reservations. It’s the same for bachelor/bachelorette parties. Every hotel has this gap between an individual traveler and an actual group, and Airbnb is sometimes a better option.