Motives for using Airbnb in metropolitan tourism – why do people sleep in the bed of a stranger? (original) (raw)
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The sharing economy and its role in metropolitan tourism
Gravari-Barbas, Maria & Sandra Guinand (eds.): Tourism & Gentrification in contemporary metropolises
The “sharing economy” has been growing rapidly in recent years. In particular, the popular book by Rachel Botsmann and Roo Rogers “What’s Mine is Yours” (2010) and the emergence of a number of large players in the sharing business, such as Uber and Airbnb, have sparked controversy on the nature of sharing and how it affects the metropolis. Although sharing is by no means a new phenomenon (Belk, 2010: 715), it has experienced a significant boost. This has been facilitated by the possibilities offered by the internet, especially the interactive options of the “social web” (Behrendt et al., 2011). However, alongside the mere economic aspects of online sharing, there are also a number of sociological and psychological drivers involved, especially with regard to tourism (Germann Molz, 2014). In tourism, the main effect of the sharing economy has been on the accommodation sector. Sharing websites such as couchsurfing.org and airbnb.com serve as matchmakers between potential hosts offering idle housing capacity and potential guests seeking suitable accommodation (Germann Molz and Gibson, 2007; Picard and Buchberger, 2013). However, what makes sharing websites so special is that, in addition to offering visitors to metropolitan areas overnight stays at little or no charge, they promise real, authentic experiences and personal encounters with local residents going about their everyday lives in the city (Pappalepore, Maitland and Smith, 2010: 228; 2014: 234). The aim of this chapter is to explore what collaborative consumption in tourism means to “explorer tourists” (Griffin, Hayllar and Edwards, 2008: 55) seeking authentic experiences off the beaten track and outside the “tourist bubble” (Judd, 1999; Maitland and Newman, 2009). The chapter opens with an introduction to the basic characteristics of the sharing economy, focusing on the relevant theoretical concepts of hospitality in urban tourism. Based on empirical findings from a variety of questionnaires, an outline of the respondents’ socio-demographic structure follows. We will then proceed to analyse their reasons for sharing accommodation, and their expectations. Empirical evidence shows that – in addition to the monetary aspect, which of course plays a role – there is a wide range of non-monetary motives for sharing accommodation. These motives include host/guest interaction, the individuality and design of the accommodation, and the specific location. A secondary aspect addressed in the chapter explores the side effects of Airbnb as a stakeholder in urban transformation and gentrification processes. These issues include the transformation of residential housing into holiday rentals as well as the increasing number of visitors in residential neighbourhoods and the consequences that result, such as noise, waste and crowded streets, as well as a change in the retail infrastructure (Füller and Michel, 2014). The chapter concludes with an illustration of the policy steps the government in Berlin has taken up to this point to steer the manifestations of the sharing economy in a sustainable direction.
2021
Through digital platforms, collaborative consumption allows access to various products and services, taking on an essential role in the construction of identities. By expanding the participation of individuals in the choices of their travels and allowing direct contact between users, this form of consumption has managed to attract people searching for alternatives within the tourism market, and has given space for the anti-tourist discourse, aimed at consumers looking to distance themselves from traditional tourism, usually in mass. Understanding that consumers act in the propagation of discourses and images about a service or destination, as well as in the construction of their consumer identity, this study sought to understand how Airbnb users interpret the messages presented by the platform and relate them to their tourist (traditional) or traveler (anti-tourist) identity. The results of this study, of qualitative nature, obtained from the analysis of the data generated by semi-s...
Airbnb as a tool for inclusive tourism? In: Tourism Geographies. (with L. Plank and R. Seidl)
Tourism Geographies - An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment, 2019
Airbnb prominently argues to promote more inclusive forms of tourism through enabling ordinary households to occasionally share their home with tourists. This conventional understanding of ‘home-sharing’ has been challenged, however, with critics arguing that property owners and landlords use the platform for the commercial provision of permanent holiday homes. This article uses Airbnb provision practices and the dichotomy of ‘home-sharing’ and commercial provision as an empirical entry point into the debate to what extent Airbnb promotes more inclusive tourism development. While existing studies on Airbnb provision practices in the European context have predominantly focused on the major tourism centres with the biggest tourism numbers, we consider a second-rank European tourist city with a rapidly growing Airbnb supply, Vienna, Austria. Methodologically, we critically review and extend common approaches to identify commercial practices. Based on a new dataset of Airbnb listings, quantitative statistics and GIS, we find that, in Vienna, the notion of ‘home-sharing’ is insufficient to fully explain the characteristics of the Airbnb supply, with commercial practices playing a considerable part, yet in geographically uneven ways. Our extended methodological framework provides further, more differentiated insights into provision practices than previous studies. We conclude by relating our findings back to debates on inclusive tourism development and discuss questions for further research.
Share Economy in Metropolitan Tourism. The role of authenticity-seeking
István Tózsa & Anita Zátori (Hrsg.): Metropolitan Tourism Experience Development. Budapest 2015, p. 90-103, 2015
“What’s Mine is Yours” ‒ the popular book by Rachel Botsmann and Roo Rogers has become the slogan of the ‘share economy’, which has exploded in recent years. In tourism, the share economy movement mainly affects the accommodation sector. In addition to offering free or affordable overnight stays, share websites such as couchsurfing.org and airbnb.com also claim that visitors to urban areas will enjoy a new, authentic experience. The leading research questions: • “Who participates in the tourism share economy?” • “What motivations and expectations lie behind the offer and use of share accommodation?” • “What experiences have been gained?” will be explored on the basis of various quantitative and qualitative empirical surveys in two urban settings: Berlin, as an example of an international metropolitan tourism destination, and Trier, as a case study for a smaller city with a greater focus on the domestic market and a target group oriented mainly towards traditional cultural tourism. The aim of this article is not only to help discover what collaborative consumption in tourism means to ‘explorer tourists’ in search of authentic experiences off the beaten track and outside the tourist bubble, but also to analyse, more globally, the role that sharing in tourism is likely to play in the future and the question raised by Trivett et al. (2013) as to its impact on the traditional tourism industry and the future of travel.
2019
In the last few years the so-called sharing economy has been the subject of a great deal of attention, in tourism as well, with particular regard to: - the effects of the Airbnb model on the tourism industry and related drivers; - the transformative power of collaborative tourism experiences, especially Couchsurfing. We aim to enhance this body of knowledge by taking into consideration the combined effect of a hybrid set of collaborative practices (i.e., renting, bartering, and sharing) that goes along a continuum between market exchange and shared sociality. We purport to do that through a special project from Italy, i.e., a digital platform that aims to connect people who want to share their homes, working spaces, time, and skills with others and who strive to change their lives. The guests can either pay a fee for the various services or give their time, artistic skills or entrepreneurial ability in return. This case study portrays a new value creation model in tourism.
The Sharing Economy in Europe, 2022
In recent decades, services on digital platforms have become increasingly important in tourism. What started with concepts of exchange as a non- or less commodified practice of sharing accommodations (e.g., Couchsurfing) became exceedingly commodified in the platform economy on a global scale and turned into successful business models (e.g., Airbnb) with strong effects on traditional provider structures and local labour market. In Austria, the economic relevance of tourism traces back more than 100 years. Today, new forms of overnight stays, such as short-term rentals (STRs), have flooded the traditional tourism industry market with offerings in the accommodation sector and pose particular challenges in the housing market in Austrian cities. The COVID-19 crisis highlights the general volatility in tourism. Therefore, alternative business models seem to be more important than before. Discussing the relevance of hybrid sharing as a business model between market-based services and plat...
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 2017
Presented as an alternative form of tourism, Couchsurfing is a predominantly non-commercial accommodation type where hosts offer a "couch" to travelers through a hospitality network. Couchsurfing.com is considered as an icon of the sharing economy and more specifically of shareable tourism. This article provides a deeper understanding of couchsurfers' motivations and shared values. Through an empirical qualitative study, we discuss the transformative power of Couchsurfing experiences, the underlying transformational processes, conditions, and sociopsychological and behavioral consequences. We also discuss the findings' implications for society, businesses, and tourism in general.
Airbnb as a tool for inclusive tourism?
Tourism Geographies
Airbnb prominently argues to promote more inclusive forms of tourism through enabling ordinary households to occasionally share their home with tourists. This conventional understanding of 'home-sharing' has been challenged, however, with critics arguing that property owners and landlords use the platform for the commercial provision of permanent holiday homes. This article uses Airbnb provision practices and the dichotomy of 'home-sharing' and commercial provision as an empirical entry point into the debate to what extent Airbnb promotes more inclusive tourism development. While existing studies on Airbnb provision practices in the European context have predominantly focused on the major tourism centres with the biggest tourism numbers, we consider a second-rank European tourist city with a rapidly growing Airbnb supply, Vienna, Austria. Methodologically, we critically review and extend common approaches to identify commercial practices. Based on a new dataset of Airbnb listings, quantitative statistics and GIS, we find that, in Vienna, the notion of 'homesharing' is insufficient to fully explain the characteristics of the Airbnb supply, with commercial practices playing a considerable part, yet in geographically uneven ways. Our extended methodological framework provides further, more differentiated insights into provision practices than previous studies. We conclude by relating our findings back to debates on inclusive tourism development and discuss questions for further research.
Performing " home " in the sharing economies of tourism: the Airbnb experience in Sofia, Bulgaria
Fennia, 2018
This article explores how “home” is performed in the emerging sharing economies of tourism, drawing on the example of Airbnb in Sofia, Bulgaria. Based on an (auto)ethnographic approach, this article analyses the sometimes contested ways in which both hosts and guests engage in the everyday embodied practices of home-making. In doing so, it challenges Airbnb’s essentialized idea of home as a site of belonging, “authenticity” or “localness”. It also shows how the political and historical specificities, as well as the materialities of people’s homes significantly shape the ways in which ordinary practices of homemaking play out and consequently affect feelings of (un)homeliness as part of the Airbnb experience. By using performance theory as an analytical framework, this article seeks to contribute to a critical understanding of the contemporary geographies of home in relation to the global sharing economies of tourism, one that is attuned to openness, interrelatedness, and a constant mode of becoming.