As Airbnb grows to 1m rooms, hotels watch

New York

BY any measure, Airbnb's growth has been stunning since the company was founded in 2008. It now has more than 1 million rooms available in homes, apartments and even former barns - more places to sleep than hotel giants like Marriott and Hilton.

Despite this growth, though, the big hotel chains, at least outwardly, have yet to take substantial action to counter the potential threat from the upstart lodging service.

One reason is the strength of the travel market overall. Spending on hotels this year is projected …