The Airbnb hosting experience

92 Pages·2017·1.41 MB·English

by  Ioannides Dimitri

Magisteruppsats

Master’s Thesis – One Year

Turismvetenskap, 15 hp
Tourism Studies, 15 ECTS

The Airbnb hosting experience:
Lessons from Stockholm

Tarek G. Honein
MID SWEDEN UNIVERSITY
Department of Tourism Studies and Geography
Main field of study: Tourism Studies
Degree program: Master’s Program in Tourism Studies, 60 credits
Semester, year: VT, 2017
Supervisor: Dimitri Ioannides, [email protected]
Examiner: Maria Lexhagen, [email protected]
Author: Tarek G. Honein, [email protected]
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The Airbnb hosting experience:

Lessons from Stockholm

A Master’s Thesis
Presented to
Mid Sweden University

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Tourism Studies

By

Tarek G. Honein

June 2017

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Copyright 2017 by Tarek G. Honein
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The Airbnb hosting experience:
Lessons from Stockholm

Department of Tourism Studies and Geography
Mid Sweden University, June 2017
Master of Tourism Studies
Tarek G. Honein

Abstract

Airbnb hosting is a growing trend globally and it remains barely studied in the literature on
tourism. This explorative study looks at the supply perspective of Airbnb in the sharing economy
(hereafter called SE). People who provide Airbnb hosting (the hosts) go through an interesting
journey. One can read about the hosts’ stories of success and disappointment from the published
comments directly on the Airbnb official website or indirectly on different sites and blogs such as
Airbnbhell.com (Weber, 2017) and Flyertalk.com ("FlyerTalk", 2017).
What is noticeable at the same time in a country like Sweden is the constant growth of the
number of hosts despite the multiple difficulties facing them ("Private Holiday Rentals Boom In
Sweden", 2016). The online short-term rental through an intermediary remains a relatively new
trend in Sweden and there is a lack of academic research on the supply side of Airbnb hosting.
Therefore, there is a need to investigate the host’s path, starting from becoming a registered host,
going through the formulation of the first motives and perceptions about the overall hosting
experience, and concluding by reviewing the multiple potential challenges and risks that today’s
hosts encounter and studying how they cope with them.
The investigation uses qualitative research using semi-structured interviews as a method. The
data sampling strategy for this study was done in Stockholm. The findings were that Airbnb hosts
are not professional experts, yet they play an essential role in promoting the SE platform and in
enhancing the guests’ experience. Trust ranks among the first perceptions for new Airbnb hosts
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and generating extra money is the first motive for Airbnb hosting. The hosts see in the “guest”
their greatest challenge and their common risk. They try to have appropriate guests through the
Airbnb verification system of guests.

Keywords: Sharing economy, Airbnb, host, motivation, perception, trust, challenge and risk.

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The Airbnb hosting experience:
Lessons from Stockholm

By
Tarek G. Honein

A Masters Thesis
Submitted to MIUN
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Master of Tourism
June 2017

Approved:
____________________________
Dimitri Ioannides (Supervisor)

____________________________
Maria Lexhagen (Examiner)
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Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to express my gratefulness to my advisor Dimitri Ioannides. The support
and trust he provided helped me a lot throughout this thesis process. I further wish to express my
appreciation for all the participants of this study and that they shared their stories with me. Finally,
a sincere thank you to my wife Elizabeth for her continuous belief and encouragement.
Tarek

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Airbnb hosting experience: ................................................................................................................................. 7
Lessons from Stockholm ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................... 8
1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................................ 12
1.1 Problem statement .............................................................................................................................................. 15
1.2 Objectives and Research questions ................................................................................................................... 16
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK & LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................... 17
2.1 Host’s attitude towards tourism ........................................................................................................................ 17
2.2 Airbnb hosting as part of the Sharing Economy .............................................................................................. 20
2.3 Airbnb hosting in view of the Sharing Economy’s evolution .......................................................................... 23
2.4 Trust and Reputation versus Risk in the Sharing Economy ........................................................................... 24
3. STUDY AREA ..................................................................................................................................................... 28
4. METHODS .......................................................................................................................................................... 32
4.1 Research design ................................................................................................................................................... 32
4.2 Data collection ..................................................................................................................................................... 32
4.3 Transcribing, Coding and Analysing data ........................................................................................................ 35
4.4 Ethical considerations ...................................................................................................................................... 37
4.5 Reliability and Validity....................................................................................................................................... 37
4.6 Positionality Statement ....................................................................................................................................... 38
4.7 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................... 38
5. FINDINGS & RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 40
5.1 Starting Airbnb hosting ...................................................................................................................................... 40
5.1.1 Motives and perceptions ................................................................................................................................ 40
5.1.2 The listing ...................................................................................................................................................... 45
5.1.3 Real estate experience of an Airbnb host ....................................................................................................... 47
5.2 Interaction with the Airbnb platform ............................................................................................................... 49
5.2.1 Advantages..................................................................................................................................................... 50
5.2.2 Disadvantages ................................................................................................................................................ 51
5.3 Challenges and risks in doing Airbnb hosting .................................................................................................. 53
5.3.1 Challenges ...................................................................................................................................................... 54
5.3.2 Risks .............................................................................................................................................................. 55
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6. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 61
6.1 The characteristics of Airbnb hosts – Research Question 1 ............................................................................ 61
6.2 Sharing home with the suitable person – Research question 2 ....................................................................... 68
6.2.1 Coping strategy of the hosts ........................................................................................................................... 70
6.3 Link to the theoretical model ............................................................................................................................. 72
7. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................... 75
8. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 77
9. APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................................... 90

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