3. COUNTRY OVERVIEW
15%
Population
between 25-55
English
Speakers
Internet
Users
63%44%
Source: CIA, Wikipedia, EMarketer
• Two International Airports (Liberia, SJO)
• Smartphone penetration reaches 40%
• Upcoming elections will take place on February 2018
Population 4.8 MM
GDP $79.3 BN
GDP per capita $16,100
Unemployment rate 9.3%
Inflation rate 0.3%
2016 Est.
Alajuela
Cartago
Guanacaste
Heredia
Limón
Puntarenas
San José
Tourism in Costa Rica is one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country
4. GROWING MARKET
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
Arrivals(inmillions)
International Arrivals (1990-2015)
67.9%
17.0%
7.0%
5.9%
1.5% 0.6%
North America Europe South America
Central America Asia Caribean
International Arrivals by Region in 2015
Source: ICT con datos de la Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería.
• Costa Rica attracted a record-breaking
2.66 million tourists from around the world in 2015
• More than 220,000 direct jobs generated by tourism
• USA, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, France, and
Colombia are the largest visitors (see appendix 1)
• Airbnb has a validated demand from the largest sources of
tourism to Costa Rica
2.6
MM
Opportunity: From 2.6 million global travelers that visited Costa Rica in 2015, only 6% stayed on Airbnb
5. HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Sources: ICT, Airport Surveys,, BCCR, Departamento de Estadística Macroeconómica.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Dec
2015
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Monthly Occupancy Rate in 2015
55%
O.R.
• Average occupancy rate in 2015 was 55%
• Local hotels and VRs need Airbnb to improve their
occupancy rates
Percentageoccupancyrate
Costa Rica is a winter destination with an annual average occupancy rate of 55%
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
Revenue from Tourism (2002 – 2015)
2.8
BN
• Average expenditures per global traveler in 2015 was $1.4K (see appendix 2)
• Average stay in 2015 was 11 nights per global traveler
• Average daily expenditures per global traveler in was $127
• Average daily expenditures on lodging and accommodation was $51
• Market size for lodging and accommodation: ~$1.5 BN per year
#ofvisitorsinthousands
6. Room Offerings by Star Ratings and Province
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
1
2
3
4
5
Limon Puntarenas
Guanacaste Heredia
Cartago Alajuela
71
15
30
101
115
19
Alajuela
Cartago
Heredia
Guanacaste
Puntarenas
Limon
Hotel Supply by Province
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY INFRASTRUCTURE
Sources: ICT, Airport Surveys,, BCCR, Departamento de Estadística Macroeconómica.
Starratings
Opportunity: Puntarenas and Guanacaste Provinces are the most popular travel destinations in Costa Rica
attracting almost 80% of global visitors to the country
7. AIRBNB LOCAL PRESENCE
• In Costa Rica, Airbnb has 6,600 hosts offering 11,000
spaces, with an occupancy of 27 days per year, mostly
in the provinces of Puntarenas and the Central Valley.
– Shawn Sullivan
• A total of 147,000 people used Airbnb to find
accommodation in Costa Rica in 2016.
–Tico Times
Room for Growth: Airbnb is currently booking 16,000+ nights into Costa Rica every month and this demand is
growing at a rate of 160% year over year
Sources: Tico Times, the Costa Rican Times, Q Costa Rica News, Interview
8. 306
72
953
2198
946
2199
306
38
973
2157
1343
2157
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Airbnb Luxury Rentals Trip Advisor VRBO Booking HomeAway
Alajuela Cartago
Heredia Guanacaste
Puntarenas Limon
AIRBNB vs COMPETITORS
• Lack of VRs inventory in the
Provinces of Guanacaste and
Puntarenas
• Luxury rentals have already
added 110 new listings to
Airbnb’s VR inventory in CR
vacationrentals
Growth Opportunity: Airbnb’s VRs represent only 9% of the total market inventory
Vacation Rentals Inventory by Province
Sources: self-market research on each sites
9. WHERE DO WE GROW FROM HERE
Main Goal: Increase Airbnb’s Vacation Rentals inventory in Guanacaste and Puntarenas
10. 3
2
Built a database of 450 key
targets
Interview
Airbnb local Hosts/ Guests
4
Interview
Boutique Hotels
10
1
LET’S GET TO WORK!
Interview
Government Officials
Interview
Property Managers
Interview local
Community builders
Web Scrape
Target Audience: Property Managers & Boutique Hotels located in Guanacaste and Puntarenas
11. KEY INSIGHTS
WOM
is key to grow
in CR
Middle class
don’t own VRs
OTAs are perceived as a
competitors for their feesSurfing attracts
lots of foreigners
Envision
presence for
branding
Blog
travelers
Limon is the new
hot destination
ITC as a
strategic partner
will speed growthHotels don’t know
about the 3% fee
Everybody is on FB
and Whatsapp in CR
T I C O L A N D I A
Open API could
make things easier
Ecotourism attracts
many foreigners
Problem: Lack of awareness and education about Airbnb
12. 01. 02. 03.
04. 05. 06.
Gaia Boutique Hotel Condominios DeluxeHotel Tango Mar
Hotel Punta Islita Hotel Cristal BallenaLa Cusingna
LOW HANGING FRUIT
Challenges for Hotels: more bookings, more awareness, mobile optimization, taxes, connect with their technology
Opportunity: List of Boutique Hotels that are not aware of Airbnb
13. SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths Opportunities
Weaknesses Threats
• Country: Fast growing market (2.6. MM visitors per year)
• Inventory: ~91% is not captured yet
• Corporate: 16% of visitors (~420K ppl) visited CR in 2015 for
business reasons (see Appendix 3)
• Ecotourism: was the second largest visited activity after
beach and leisure (see Appendix 4)
• Experiences: tailor-made country tours and
exclusive experiences
• Validated demand from largest tourist demographics
• Lower commission fee compared with competitors
(3% vs 15-20%)
• Demand is growing at a rate of 160% year over year
• 6% of the market share providing social proof
• CR is a priority for Airbnb (resources)
• Current room bookings is enough to move the needle
on VR and Boutique hotels
• Lack of awareness and education on how to do business
with Airbnb
• Cultural differences
• Low market penetration
• Low tech and inability to integrate with Airbnb’s platforms
might stunt growth
• People might not trust Airbnb
• Government: Regulation – 2018 elections
• Ethics: Irresponsible hosts causing bad publicity and
jeopardizing Airbnb’s brand
• Tax: Tax regulations
• Competitors: Well established competitors with large
inventories
14. 1 Listen
15
• Employee Training
• Meetings with Airbnb team
• Learn best practices from Airbnb
• Define goals
• Define metrics
• Build data base of MQLs
• Get approval for 30,60, days plan
• Schedule meetings with Boutique
Hotels and PMs
• Start building partnerships
Ideate
30 Structure
45 Field Work
60 Follow up
90
75 Field Work
Analyze & Scale
90 DAYS JOURNEY
• Focus: Guanacaste and
Puntarenas
• Meetings with PMs and selected
Hotel Boutiques
• Begin onboarding process
• Partnerships with media
• Define CRM and tech tools
• Create a drip campaign for PMs
• Reach out target audiences
• List new PM. Boutique Hotels
• Luxury Rentals transition to Airbnb
30 Days Goals: 10 new hotels, 10 PMs
60 Days Goals: 25 new hotels, 20 PMs
90 Days Goals: 40 new hotels, 30 PMs
• Closing properties
• Complete onboarding process
• Implementation
• Local Rep
• More visits
• More onboarding
• More education
• More expansion
15. KEY METRICS
• #Leads per month, #PMs, #Boutiques Hotels
A
A
R
R
R
• CAC, Customer LTV, bookings
• Virality coefficient of PMs, # monthly referrals
• Churn rate
• Listings growth rate, XX% of PMs signed/completed
onboarding process, New listings per month
Pirate metrics
16. OTHER MARKETING IDEAS TO INCREASE VRs INVENTORY
Referral Program
(Property Managers)
PR
(PMs and Hotel Boutiques)
Call Center
(Acquisition, Onboarding)
Partnerships
(Meta search engines)
Content Marketing
(Success Stories)
Drip Campaign
(Property Managers)
Airbnb = Pura Vida
(Media Partnerships)
Essential Costa Rica
(Join Campaign)
17. Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014
HAPPINESS
Costa Rica was named the Happiest country on Earth by the Happiness Planet Index in 2016
18. You know this guy! I mean, the one on the left…
FLASHBACK
Traveling = Happiness
19. 1. Intro
2. Pura Vida = Be a good Host
3. Country Overview
4. Market
5. Hospitality Industry Overview
6. Hospitality Industry Infrastructure
7. Airbnb Presence
8. Airbnb vs. Competitors
9. Strategy
10.Bob the Builder
11.Key Insights
12.Low Hanging Fruit
13.SWOT Analysis
14.30, 60, 60 days plan
15.Metrics
16.Marketing Ideas
17.Happiness
Presentation Slides
• Country Overview
• International Arrivals
• Int. Arrivals by Region
• Monthly Occupancy Rate
• Revenue from Tourism
• Hotel Supply by Province
• Room Offerings by Start Ratings
• Airbnb Vs. Competitors inventory
Graphics
• Appendix 1 – International
Arrivals by Country/ Region
• Appendix 2 – Avg Expenditures
• Appendix 2 – Avg Stay Nights
Appendixes
• Database of Interviews to: Airbnb
guests/ hosts; community builder;
Property Managers; Boutique
Hotels; Government Officials.
• Database of 450 Property
Managers from Costa Rica
Data Bases
Index of Presentation and Appendix Slides
RESOURCES
First of all, I’d like to thank you for allowing me to learn about the Costa Rican hospitality industry in less than 4 days.
Tico = Man; Tica = Women. Tica will join us on this presentation.
Pure life = being a good host
GDP per capita in US: $52,800; GDP per capita in Colombia: $11,000; GDP per capita in CR: $16,000
The country has 4.8 MM population and 2.6 MM visitors. Almost 50%
205 MM
91% of the market is non capture which is XX$ - growth opportunity
In Silicon valley it’s super easy to find tech entrepreneurs, in Costa Rica is super easy to find people that work on tourism
In Silicon valley it’s super easy to find tech entrepreneurs, in Costa Rica is super easy to find people that work on tourism. This is what I’ve done to learn about CR.