The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature on Airbnb – one of the most significant recent innovations in the tourism sector – to assess the research progress…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature on Airbnb – one of the most significant recent innovations in the tourism sector – to assess the research progress that has been accomplished to date.
Design/methodology/approach
Numerous journal databases were searched, and 132 peer-reviewed journal articles from various disciplines were reviewed. Key attributes of each paper were recorded, and a content analysis was undertaken.
Findings
A survey of the literature found that the majority of Airbnb research has been published quite recently, often in hospitality/tourism journals, and the research has been conducted primarily by researchers in the USA/Canada and Europe. Based on the content analysis, the papers were divided into six thematic categories – Airbnb guests, Airbnb hosts, Airbnb supply and its impacts on destinations, Airbnb regulation, Airbnb’s impacts on the tourism sector and the Airbnb company. Consistent findings have begun to emerge on several important topics, including guests’ motivations and the geographical dispersion of listings. However, many research gaps remain, so numerous suggestions for future research are provided.
Practical implications
By reviewing a large body of literature on a fairly novel and timely topic, this research provides a concise summary of Airbnb knowledge that will assist industry practitioners as they adapt to the recent rapid emergence of Airbnb.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to review the extant literature specifically about Airbnb.
研究目的
本论文旨在审视过去文献对Airbnb的研究-旅游业中最显著发明之一-以衡量迄今为止的研究发展历程。
研究设计/方法/途径
经过大量文献搜索,共132份同行评审型期刊文章,来自不同研究领域,被作者审阅。每个文章的关键词被摘抄出来,本论文采用内容分析方法来分析文本。
研究结果
经过文献综述,作者发现大多数Airbnb研究都发表在近几年,往往发表在酒店/旅游期刊。期刊文章作者集中在美国/加拿大和欧洲。基于内容分析结果,发表的期刊文章被分类在六个主题-Airbnb顾客、Airbnb服务提供主、Airbnb供应商、以及其对旅游目的地的影响,Airbnb规范、Airbnb对旅游行业的影响、以及Airbnb公司。研究结果还归纳出几项重要的话题,包括顾客动机和民宿地理分布。然而,大多数研究空缺仍然存在,因此,本论文总结出多项未来研究方向。
研究实践意义
本论文通过审阅大量较新和及时的文献,对Airbnb的相关知识进行了精准梳理,这个研究结果对从业者适应Airbnb较新较快发展的现象,有着实践意义。
研究原创性/价值
本论文是首篇审阅有关Aribnb文献的文章。
关键词
Airbnb、文献综述、共享经济、P2P、短期出租
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Zaid Alrawadieh, Daniel Guttentag, Merve Aydogan Cifci and Gurel Cetin
The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which budget and mid-range hoteliers perceive Airbnb as a threat, and the extent to which they are actively responding to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the degree to which budget and mid-range hoteliers perceive Airbnb as a threat, and the extent to which they are actively responding to the peer-to-peer accommodation business model.
Design/methodology/approach
The study draws on qualitative data collected through 19 semi-structured interviews with budget and midrange hotel managers in Istanbul, Turkey, covering how they view Airbnb and have responded to Airbnb’s rise.
Findings
The results suggest that the managers believed they were losing some business to Airbnb, yet they generally neither perceive Airbnb as a serious threat nor were they generally taking concrete strategic measures to respond to Airbnb. Regulatory lobbying against Airbnb and exploiting Airbnb as a new distribution platform were the most common responses, and cutting rate also was commonly seen as a potential competitive strategy.
Originality/value
The study responds to calls by several scholars for more research addressing the strategies adopted by traditional lodging facilities to protect their market share from Airbnb. This study does so with a specific focus on the budget and midrange hotel segments, which some studies suggest may be particularly vulnerable to Airbnb competition. Also, the limited research addressing Airbnb’s perceived impacts on traditional lodging has been conducted in mature economies, so the topic remains largely neglected in maturing economies like Turkey.
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The purpose of this paper is to describe how the growing presence of Airbnb rentals, resulting partly from tourists’ increasing desire for transformative travel experiences, is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how the growing presence of Airbnb rentals, resulting partly from tourists’ increasing desire for transformative travel experiences, is ironically much more transformative for the host communities than the tourists themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a conceptual analysis linking the motivations of Airbnb guests with the impacts of Airbnb on host communities. It uses an experience economy lens, and is based on a review of the academic literature and of media stories related to Airbnb.
Findings
Many tourists are increasingly seeking transformative travel experiences, and Airbnb commonly will be appealing to such tourists. However, the capacity of Airbnb lodging to independently foster personal transformation is questionable. On the other hand, there is little doubt that Airbnb and its guests are producing significant transformations in host communities.
Originality/value
This paper contributes toward understandings of Airbnb and its impacts on destinations around the world. It, for the first time, links Airbnb guests’ travel motivations with Airbnb’s community impacts, and in doing so demonstrates parallels with past critiques of alternative tourism. This paper is also one of the first to examine Airbnb from the perspective of the experience economy.
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Paul Ranson and Daniel Guttentag
This study aimed to investigate whether increasing the social presence within an Airbnb lodging environment could nudge guests toward altruistic cleaning behaviors.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to investigate whether increasing the social presence within an Airbnb lodging environment could nudge guests toward altruistic cleaning behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was based around a theoretical framework combining the social-market versus money-market relationship model, nudge theory and social presence theory. A series of three field experiments were conducted, in which social presence was manipulated to test its impact on guest cleaning behaviors prior to departure.
Findings
The experimental results confirmed the underlying hypothesis that an Airbnb listing’s enhanced social presence can subtly induce guests to help clean their rental units prior to departure.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine behavioral nudging in an Airbnb context. It is also one of the first field experiments involving Airbnb. The study findings offer clear theoretical and practical implications.
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Chris Gibbs, Daniel Guttentag, Ulrike Gretzel, Lan Yao and Jym Morton
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of dynamic pricing by Airbnb hosts.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of dynamic pricing by Airbnb hosts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses attribute and sales information from 39,837 Airbnb listings and hotel data from 1,025 hotels across five markets to test different hypotheses which explore the extent to which Airbnb hosts use dynamic pricing and how their pricing strategies compare to those of hotels.
Findings
Airbnb is a unique and complex platform in terms of dynamic pricing where hosts make limited use of dynamic pricing strategies, especially as compared to hotels. Notwithstanding their limited use, hosts who own listings in high-demand leisure markets, manage entire places, manage more listings and have more experience vary prices the most.
Practical implications
This study identified a great need for Airbnb to encourage dynamic pricing among its hosts, but also warned of the potential perils of dynamic pricing in the sharing economy context. The findings also demonstrated challenges for hotel managers interested in actionable information related to Airbnb as a competitor.
Originality/value
This is the first Airbnb study to use a comprehensive set of data over a continuous period in multiple markets to look at a number of listing and host factors and determine their relation with dynamic pricing strategies.
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Stephen W. Litvin, Daniel Guttentag, Wayne W. Smith and Robert E. Pitts
Travel decreased dramatically during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to return rapidly to prepandemic levels once the degree of fear toward the virus began to…
Abstract
Purpose
Travel decreased dramatically during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, only to return rapidly to prepandemic levels once the degree of fear toward the virus began to diminish among potential travelers. This USA-based 16-month repeated-measure cross-sectional survey study aims to explore the degree to which fear of COVID affected people’s decisions to stay home rather than to travel during the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used survey data. An extensive data set, composed of over 9,500 respondents, collected through Mechanical Turk over a 16-month time period, was used to compare respondent fear of the pandemic both with their attitudes toward future travel and with Smith Travel Research data reflecting actual pandemic travel patterns.
Findings
The results demonstrate how fear of COVID was closely and negatively linked to both travel intentions and travel behavior.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected from US respondents only.
Practical implications
The findings significantly extend earlier studies and provide guidance for those studying travel consumer behavior regarding trends that should be monitored in the case of a future pandemic or other fear-inducing crisis. For hospitality and tourism managers and marketers, understanding fear as a leading indicator of future travel behavior can result in more timely promotional efforts and staffing and training decisions.
Social implications
Measuring and understanding consumer fear levels as this relates to travel decisions can help in the future to adjust the message that is sent to the public, perhaps reducing the amount of travel taken during periods when this is unwise and or unsafe.
Originality/value
This paper extends previous work that had been based upon cross-sectional reviews, providing a broader and more valuable study of an important and timely consumer behavior travel topic.
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Xuerong Peng, Lian Zhang, Seoki Lee, Wenhao Song and Keyan Shou
This study aims to identify key contributors, research themes, research gaps, and future directions in hospitality innovation by conducting bibliometric and content analyses of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify key contributors, research themes, research gaps, and future directions in hospitality innovation by conducting bibliometric and content analyses of peer-reviewed articles in this field.
Design/methodology/approach
A bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer software on 2,698 peer-reviewed English-language articles retrieved from the Web of Science database, published between 1995 and 2023. Key contributors were identified based on publication volume, citation, and co-citation analysis. Co-occurrence analysis of index keywords and content analysis of influential articles were used to identify research themes.
Findings
The study identified four distinct research themes in hospitality innovation: (1) digital technology adoption primarily among customers, (2) innovation management within hospitality firms, focusing on knowledge management and eco-innovation, (3) service innovation primarily among employees, and (4) business model innovation involving multiple stakeholders. Additionally, the study determined key contributors, highlighted research gaps, and provided suggestions for future research directions.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by providing a systematic and in-depth review of hospitality innovation research. It identifies key contributors, research themes, and potential gaps for future research, offering valuable insights for both industry practitioners and scholars.
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Jeffery Cole Kreeger, Scott J. Smith and H.G. Parsa
The Lodging Shared Economy (e.g. Airbnb) has emerged in the past two decades. It was thought that generations participate differently in the Lodging Shared Economy (LSE) and their…
Abstract
Purpose
The Lodging Shared Economy (e.g. Airbnb) has emerged in the past two decades. It was thought that generations participate differently in the Lodging Shared Economy (LSE) and their requirements for LSEs are different for hotels. The current study compares business travelers from three generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y) and their lodging preferences using seven dimensions: Price/Value; Financial Information Security; Personal Safety; Location, Empathy, Amenities, and Cleanliness.
Design/methodology/approach
Using MTurk, 614 surveys were completed by two distinct groups of pre-qualified respondents who recently stayed for business in either a hotel or LSE (e.g. Airbnb). This study compared the perceptions of three generations on their responses to seven key lodging attributes.
Findings
This study’s results indicate little difference among business travelers from the three generations. Baby Boomers responded they value cleanliness more than Millennials. Boomers are more likely than Xers to tell others about their stay but overall, generational statistical differences were not revealed.
Practical implications
This study suggests that consumer preferences for lodging on business trips are similar across generations and therefore, hotels should focus on business travelers as a homogeneous group rather than attempting to focus on specific generations and specifically not rule out Boomer customers.
Originality/value
While there is much research on the LSE, this is one of the first studies that focuses on business travelers’ preferences for using accommodations other than hotels, which is a gap in LSE research.
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S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh, Rob Law, Dimitrios Buhalis and Cihan Cobanoglu
Cheri A. Young and David L. Corsun
The purpose of the study was to examine travelers’ attitudinal and behavioral loyalty to the product type of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations (as opposed to a brand).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study was to examine travelers’ attitudinal and behavioral loyalty to the product type of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations (as opposed to a brand).
Design/methodology/approach
P2P accommodations’ hosts provided contact information for their guests from the prior two years who were contacted to participate in the study. Respondents answered questions about their travel party, trip purpose, factors leading to their P2P accommodation stay and attitudinal and behavioral loyalty around P2P lodging.
Findings
Autonomous motivators (dislike of big hotel chains and experience authenticity) and controlled motivators (location and cooking facilities) were positively related to attitudinal loyalty to P2P accommodations. Price predicted behavioral loyalty in the form of repeat purchase behavior and attitudinal loyalty did not.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of this study include the representativeness and size of the sample, the generalizability of the results, cross-sectional nature of the data and respondents’ recall ability. Despite a favorable attitude toward P2P accommodations, only price accounted for travelers’ repeated choice of P2P accommodations over hotels.
Practical implications
While attitudinal loyalty was explained by the dislike of big hotel chains and experience authenticity in P2P accommodations, it did not translate into repeated purchase behavior. Behavioral loyalty to P2P seems all about price, which begs the question of whether price is the most meaningful competitive lever in the battle between conventional hotels and P2P.
Originality/value
Hotel brand loyalty refers to consumer choice of brand within the conventional hotel product type. This study presents the first effort to understand consumer loyalty to a lodging product type, specifically P2P accommodations, and not a particular brand.