Spatial Heterogeneity in the Sharing Economy: Uber’s Impact on Hotel Price
Abstract
This study investigates how Uber’s market entry influences hotel prices across urban geographies, with a focus on heterogeneous impacts driven by proximity to city centres and public transit accessibility. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DiD) framework on granular zip code-level data spanning six major U.S. cities (2011–2015), we find that Uber’s entry increases average hotel prices by 7.75\%. The largest price increases arise in neighbourhoods with moderate but incomplete public transit access, rather than in the most distant or best transit locations. This pattern indicates that Uber acts as a complement to existing mobility infrastructure, increasing the effective accessibility of locations that were previously underserved. Mechanism tests based on hotel occupancy and demand confirm that these pricing effects are demand-driven rather than supply-driven. The results highlight a previously overlooked cross-sector linkage: ride-sharing can expand spatial hotel demand by reducing last-mile frictions. These findings underscore Uber’s role not only as a transportation disruptor but also as an urban re-allocator of economic activity, with implications for hospitality markets, platform regulation, and urban accessibility policy.
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Recommended citation: Chen, Jingwen (2025). Spatial Heterogeneity in the Sharing Economy: Uber’s Impact on Hotel Price. Job Market Paper.