A recent article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR),
entitled The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Sharing at All, shows that FlexWeek,
Inc.’s (OTC: FXWK) innovative online platform for travelshare rentals is an
idea whose time has come. The FlexWeek platform ‘allows timeshare owners to
discover, book and offer unused vacation time (travelshares) directly to the
public and other timeshare owners.’ As the title of the HBR piece suggests, the
label ‘sharing economy’ is misleading. The authors, two well-respected
professors of marketing, go on to point out that the essential characteristic
of the peer-to-peer (P2P) business model is access. That is an important
insight and it’s one that drives FlexWeek’s strategy.
The rise of the peer-to-peer approach has given rise to a
new range of businesses. An illuminating story (http://dtn.fm/0nLZ4) in
Currency Fair, entitled The Peer-To-Peer Marketplace Revolution: 50+ Companies
That Are Changing The World, names Craigslist, Uber, Zipcar, Kickstarter,
Lending Club, and, of course, AirBnB. Peer-to-peer is a term borrowed from
computer architecture vocabulary that was meant, initially, to indicate a
contrast to centrally-controlled systems. Consequently, the early excitement
with P2P models was their devolution of power, which was thought to translate
into equality and freedom for the participating peers. Since the French
Revolution, however, fraternity is never far away from liberty and equality. So
early P2P endeavors with a strong flavor of communality and social interaction
were an expected sine qua non.
Eckhardt and Bardhi take issue with this accepted rationale
of the success of P2P nexus, doubting whether participants on such platforms
are seeking brotherhood and social interaction. They rather believe companies
that ‘emphasize convenience and price over the ability to foster connections
will have a competitive advantage’. To illustrate this, they compare the two
different approaches taken by Uber and Lyft. They endorse the privately-held
Uber’s strategy that ‘positions itself squarely around its pricing,
reliability, and convenience (that) is encapsulated in their tagline, “Better,
faster and cheaper than a taxi.”’ However, they say a contributing reason that
almost identical rival Lyft has not had Uber-rate growth is that its sales
propositions, such as “We’re your friend with a car” and “Greet your driver
with a fist bump,” are directed at our gregarious natures. Peer-to-peer
business may involve some degree of winning friends, but when we call a cab,
it’s not because we want to be chums with the cabbie.
The two professors confess dismay with AirBnB’s recent
re-branding, which highlights ‘people, places, love and community’, saying “The
reason why most consumers use AirBnB is the value they can get for their
money.” A peer-to-peer commerce model is superior when it provides ‘convenient
and cost-effective access to valued resources, flexibility, and freedom from
the financial, social, and emotional obligations embedded in ownership and
sharing’.
A Bloomberg piece (http://dtn.fm/dOXv6) that appears to have
ingested Eckhardt and Bardhi’s main argument touts Uber as the poster child for
the access economy with an estimated valuation ‘north of $50 billion’. The
Bloomberg story also highlights AirBnB. It points out that the privately-held
AirBnB is valued at around $25 billion and carries more than 1.5 million
listings for accommodation in 34,000 cities around the world. FlexWeek aims to
do for timeshares what AirBnB has done for the online marketplace that enables
individuals to rent their rooms, apartments or houses to short-term guests.
FlexWeek’s P2P website (www.FlexWeek.com) and mobile
application is similar to AirBNB’s $25 billion approach to the travel industry.
(A December 2015 filing with the SEC in regard to funding of $1.5 billion
values AirBnB at $25.5 billion) FlexWeek is the first and only P2P marketplace
exclusive to fractional vacation ownerships. Its platform differs from the
existing costly model under which timeshare weeks must be ‘banked’ with a
trading company such as Interval International or RCI. Instead, the booking
fees are charged to the renter of the travelshare or vacation time. FlexWeek is
a pioneer in this Peer-to-Peer Travelshare market, and the FlexWeek engine is
currently undergoing v2 Beta testing. FlexWeek also offers premium members a
service through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Choice Journeys, which provides
access to discounted timeshare inventory in addition to cruise and luxury
vacation homes in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Europe and
Asia.
FlexWeek’s prospects look good. Based on data in the recent
State of the Vacation Timeshare Industry: United States Study 2015 Edition and
other information supplied by the American Resort Development Association, the
potential size of the re-sale and rental market is about $1.6 billion. AirBnb’s
success shows that helping the world to travel on holiday is one road to
success. That’s a road that FlexWeek, with its novel travelshare concept, is
likely to pave anew.
For more information, visit www.flexweek.com
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