The sharing economy caters to less planned, cheaper and more youthful forms of vacationing. But it is not just about cool, low-cost holidays. Intermediary channels offer the immediateness of private transactions. No wasting time, no paperwork, no hassle. Plus, online reputation systems create a sense of trust and security, while shortening the distance between clients and providers. Also matters of personal safety are at stake. At the turn of the century, globalization gave us real-time access to all sorts of natural and human-caused catastrophes making travelers, in turn, experience a permanent state-of-panic. Travelers value the feeling of trust that ‘authentic’ proximity seems to bring. Likewise, companies like Airbnb promise a customized, more authentic, sustainable, and fun lodging experience that is also cheaper and safer than any hotel would dare to offer. According to Pr. Sekulic, this business model jeopardizes the industry and millions of jobs.
這種共享經濟迎合較隨性、平價且年輕的渡假型態。但它並不單指既潮且便宜的渡假型式。這種中介管道提供了立即的私人交易，無需耗費太多時間、填寫表單而且不麻煩。再者，線上評價系統營造出信賴與安全感，同時也縮短了顧客與供應者(商)的溝通距離。當然，個人安全是存在風險的。本世紀(二十一世紀)之初，全球化浪潮讓我們能實際獲悉世上的天災人禍，同時也讓旅人體驗到不曾中斷的恐慌狀態。旅人視信任感為「能帶來真實的親近」。同樣地，像 Airbnb這一類的公司承諾提供一個客製化、更可信的、有永續發展性且有趣的住宿經驗給顧客，相較於其他旅館業者，更敢於提供較便宜的房價且安全的客房。按照Sekulic教授的看法，這種商業模式會危及旅館產業及數以百萬計的工作機會。

Is it a realistic concern?
但這會是個現實上值得擔憂的事嗎？

線上中介公司是個顛覆性創新的例子，因此否定他們能形塑現今與未來的旅館產業是不明智之舉。當一間公司能藉由減少成本及降低服務價格來打破產業所建立的既有規則，顛覆性創新於焉成形。這樣的方式會讓傳統上定位良好的公司陷入兩難之境：是要服務再創新或者就此敗亡？

Examples of such disruptive innovations abound. One well-known case study in business schools is the arrival of low-cost entrants in the airline industry. When newcomers such as Southwest Airlines or Ryanair entered the market, the entire industry was forced to rethink its business model. The gaming industry represents yet a closer parallel to hotels. Entrenched in complex regulatory processes, casinos had been a relatively quiet market until online gambling emerged and shook their very foundations with cutthroat competition.
像這種顛覆性創新的例子很多。在商學院中，其中一個最著名的個案研究是航空業界新起之秀的「廉價航空公司」。當新起之秀如西南航空或瑞安航空進入航空市場，整個航空產業被迫要重新思考它的商業模式。不過，博奕產業對旅館產業而言有更多的相似之處。由許多監控程序所防護的博奕產業過去曾是個相對平靜的市場，直到線上賭博網站的出現，以割喉戰之勢撼動整個博奕產業的根基。

Disruptive innovation can and must be overcome by more (and better) innovation. Traditional airline carriers faced low-cost companies by modernizing their work practices, minimizing costs, and delivering new and better services. Likewise, for traditional brick-and-mortar casinos to have the slightest chance to survive they ought to come out with novel service concepts to complement their core business model. That is, they must reinvent their service offering with innovative, appealing new services to attract potential customers and retain existing ones.
顛覆性創新能夠且必須以更多更好的創新來戰勝。一般傳統航空公司藉由作業模式現代化、減少營運成本及提供新穎且更好的服務來對抗廉價航空公司。同樣的，對於傳統實體的賭場博奕業者，為了要保有最起碼的存活機會，應當要以新的服務構想來執行他們的核心經營模式。意即，他們必須要以創新且具吸引力的新創服務來招徠潛在顧客及保有既有客群。

儘管所有的煩擾都繞著共享經濟型公司打轉，但他們的商業模式其實是比媒體報導內容來得較不創新。他們視為競爭優勢的輕資產供給模式有部份是來自於他們自我定位為服務供應端(屋主或業主)及服務需求端(住宿者)之間的仲介者，近似於共享經濟中的數位大盤商。深入觀察這些網路仲介商所聲稱「突然串起全球屋主與住客之間連結的可能性」其實就跟旅館業長久以來所做的事業一模一樣。

The real challenge for traditional hotels is to accept that the very meaning of what it is to be a host, as well as the relationship between guests and hosts, may be forever changing.
而對於傳統旅館，真正挑戰是要接受「住宿接待方的定義」以及「主客之間的關係」可能永遠改變。

What path must hotels take if they want to survive against disruptive competitors? As predictable as it may sound, they must embrace change, adaptation and innovation. To paraphrase Bill Clinton’s famous catchphrase: “It’s the innovation, stupid!”
如果傳統的旅館酒店想對抗這些顛覆性競爭者而存活的話，要採取何種方式？如意料之中，他們必須接受改變、適應潮流及創新。把前美國總統 比爾 ‧ 柯林頓 的著名口號重新套用：「問題在於創新，笨蛋！」

It is only fair to ask ourselves: How is hospitality doing in terms of innovation? Hotels are among the most competitive businesses in the world. Yet, as the specialized literature shows, the hospitality industry lags behind most other services in terms of basic innovation, R&D investment, and technological developments.
捫心自問「以創新層面而言，旅館業做得如何？」才是公平客觀的。旅館業是世上競爭最激烈的行業之一。不過，如專業文獻所顯示，依據基本創新能力、研究與發展投資、科技發展三個層面來看，旅館業大幅落後於其他服務產業。

Hospitality is the epitome of a labor-intensive activity. Due to the distinctive nature of its business and organization, hotels must broaden the scope of innovation to find new and sustainable sources of growth. They must depart from the more narrow and capital-intensive view of technological innovation prevalent in the manufacture industry, which stems from basic R&D and patents to generate new product and process technologies. They need to include non-technological innovations—business model innovation and organizational innovations. I draw here on the finer categorization of non-technological innovation as one that helps renewal within their core business model and internal processes.
旅館業是勞力密集產業的一個縮影。由於旅館經營及組織的特性，旅館必須擴大創新的範圍才能找到嶄新且持續性的成長來源。旅館業絶不能採取製造業普遍運用的狹隘且資本集中的科技創新觀念，這種觀念是來自於基本研發與專利以產出新產品及科技處理。旅館業需要涵括非科技創新商業模式及組織創新。我在此剖析「非科技創新」能為核心商業模式及內部營運之間的再造有所助益。

Business model can be defined as the firm’s design or architecture of the value creation, delivery, and capture mechanisms it employs. This is the very dilemma traditional casinos are facing nowadays. Online gaming has broken into the leisure business with a disruptive approach: break up the casino monopoly of gambling by making it accessible to a global audience through Internet. With the coming of online gambling, brick and mortar casinos have to reinvent themselves or perish. To partake in the sharing economy, hotels must pursue new business opportunities arising from the overhaul of their business model. Defying conventional ways of doing business challenges the manner by which hotels address customer needs, deliver value from providing new services, entice customers to pay for value, and convert those payments to profit.
「商業模式」可以定義為一間公司的設計規劃或是價值創造、傳達及獲得使用機制之建構。這也是現今傳統的賭場所面對的困境。線上博奕網站以顛覆性的方式闖入休閒產業：憑藉著網路連結讓全球賭客容易接觸進而打破傳統賭場的壟斷。線上博奕的崛起，讓傳統實體的賭場業者必須靠自我再創新，不然就會步入敗亡之途。為了能在共享經濟分得一杯羹，旅館業必須徹底檢視自身的商業模型，進而追求新的事業契機。藉由回應顧客需求、提供新服務來傳達價值、誘使顧客為價值而付費以及將所付款項轉化為公司利潤來抗拒傳統操業方式能挑戰既有習性。

Organizational innovation involves new managerial, process-related, or structural practices destined to promote the objectives of the firm. In the airline industry, the bulk of innovations that contributed to overcome competition from low-cost competitors were related to new management practices and new work methods. There is a growing awareness in hospitality that, in order to overcome fierce competition, it is vital to redesign its work structures, to reappraise its workforce needs, to establish work rules for expanding inter-organizational relationships, and to attempt new talent management systems.
組織創新包含新的管理體制、工作流程相關的創新或是用來指定公司成員升遷的結構性操作。在航空業，大部份用來對抗廉價航空的創新都與新的管理事務及新的工作方法有關。而為了力抗嚴峻的競爭，旅館業的體認也正增長中：重新規劃工作架構、再評估勞動力需求、建立工作規範以擴大內部組織的關聯互通性以及積極完成新的人才管理系統皆是重要的方法。

Yes, successful non-technological innovation is painful as it challenges existing practices/processes and ingrained assumptions of the status quo. At the same time, since these innovations are generally more systemic and difficult for competitors to replicate compared with technological innovations, they can be an important source of competitive advantage for hospitality firms.
確實，成功的非科技創新是痛苦的，因為它挑戰既有的作業流程以及整合現狀的假設。同時因為這些創新大都較為整體性，就競爭者而言，非科技創新之於科技創新是來得難以複製，因此對於旅館業者來說，這可以是一項重要的競爭優勢來源。

Almost a century ago, a pioneering hotelier, César Ritz, had a simple but revolutionary idea: adjoining private restrooms to each hotel room. Simple as it may sound, that innovation changed the industry forever. Guests changed their commercial relationship with hotels as new concepts such as the service experience, upscale amenities and luxury became the quintessence of the hotel experience.
近一世紀以前，旅館業的先趨者 凱撒 ‧ 里茲先生有個簡單但革命性的想法：每個客房都附設有專用廁所。它聽起來簡單，可是這創舉卻永久改變了旅館產業。當新的觀念如：服務體驗、高端用品及奢華感已成為旅館經驗的典範，顧客也隨之改變他們與旅館間的商業互動關係。

The innovative sharing economy has posed a significant threat to traditional hospitality. Let there be no doubt about it. Hotels will, however, have a say in how their future pans out. They can either feel sorry for themselves and impassively wait and hope for a more favorable outcome than the one that has befallen other sectors like the music and film industry or they can move forward and reconfigure their service offering while adapting their work methods and practices. Only by taking chances and making changes will they be able to turn the ‘good old days’ into the ‘good new days’.
創新的共享經濟已是傳統旅館業的重大威脅，這已無庸置疑。然而，旅館業將會決定他們的未來何去何從。他們可以為自身處境感到難過，木然地等待，並期待一個比影音產業等其他領域還來得令人滿意的結果降臨，或者是他們能向前邁進，並且在調適他們的工作方式與營運時，重新架構起所提供的服務。唯有趁勢改變，旅館業才能夠將「過去榮景」轉化為「未來繁華」。