Likelihood to Use Sharing Economy Services This Summer Declines Among Americans

Washington, DC — A new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Allianz Global Assistance finds that during this summer vacation season, fewer Americans intend to use be utilizing sharing economy services. Less than half (47%) of Americans indicate that they are likely to use sharing economy services, including only 19% (-7pts) who say they are ‘very likely.’

Lower usage could potentially be impacted by the slight decline in the level of trust Americans have for sharing economy services. Since 2017, trust in sharing economy service has fallen 3 points from 65% to 62%.

However, while usage and trust may be lower this vacation season, Americans are becoming increasingly more familiar with sharing economy services. More than eight in ten (83%) are familiar with at least one of the sharing economy services tested, up 5 points since 2017, and up 17 points in just 2 years. Familiarity with sharing economy services is generally stronger among younger generations.

Among the specific sharing economy services, familiarity with Lyft (66%) has increased significantly over the past year, up 10 points, while familiarity with all other economy sharing services (Uber, Airbnb and Homeaway) remains stagnant. Co-working and co-living spaces are newer concepts to the sharing economy world, and familiarity of these services are relatively low (17% and 16%, respectively). Men are significantly more likely to be familiar with co-working (22% vs. 12% women) and co-living spaces (22% vs. 10% women).

While familiarity of sharing economy services is at an all-time high, when it came time for Americans to evaluate the sharing economy services against traditional services, the traditional services outperformed the sharing economy on almost every metric. Sharing economy services are believed to be the better value for money and offers a more authentic local experience, however, traditional services are believed to provide the better booking experience, better quality product, better customer support, and wins as being able to provide the best overall experience.

Despite the popularity of sharing economy services among Millennials, compared to last year they are less likely to rate sharing economy services at a higher level than traditional services. In fact, four in ten (38%; -4pts) believe traditional services offer better customer support when things go wrong, one quarter believe they provide a better-quality product (26%; -7pts), and better booking experience (24%; +2pts). An increasing number of Millennials (33%) say that traditional services provide the best overall experience, up 11 points compared to last year. However, Millennials do think that sharing economy services are better value for money (41%; -2pts) and provide a more authentic local experience (33%; -12pts) when put up against traditional services.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between May 2^nd and May 5^th, on behalf of Allianz Global Assistance. For this survey, a sample of 1,005 was interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to U.S. Census Bureau data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all American adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Sean Simpson
Vice President
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324-2002
[email protected]