Airbnb and hotels during COVID-19: different strategies to survive
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
ISSN: 1750-6182
Article publication date: 27 August 2021
Issue publication date: 1 July 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the traditional hotel industry and Airbnb in nine major European cities. The author examines differences between the two business models and analyses various strategies of Airbnb hosts to cope with the crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
A detailed empirical analysis is presented based on data from STR and Inside Airbnb for the period January 2018–September 2020. To assess the impact of the pandemic on the hotel industry, year-to-year changes in various performance metrics are presented. The author also investigates the impact of the pandemic on Airbnb prices with panel data regression analysis. Using text-mining methods, signs for new use-cases are explored, including renting flats for home-office or quarantine.
Findings
The results support that Airbnb supply is more flexible. While hotel supply quickly returned to a level close to 2019, the average number of Airbnb listings was lower by more than 15%. Furthermore, the price analysis showed that Airbnb rates decreased more moderately than hotel prices. These findings suggest that a significant share of hosts pivoted from short-term accommodation provision and used their property differently, e.g. rented on a long-term basis. The analysis of listing characteristics revealed that the role of longer stays increased; however, the results do not support a shift towards advertising listings for home-office or quarantine purposes.
Originality/value
This paper presents the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality sector in a wide sample of European cities, explores the adjustment of hotels and Airbnb and provides new evidence on the differences between the business models.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by National Science Centre, Poland: Project number 2017/27/N/HS4/00951. The author wishes to express gratitude for the helpful comments to Prof. Dr Hab. Katarzyna Śledziewska and the author’s colleagues at DELab, especially: Łukasz Nawaro, Dr Joanna Mazur and Michał Paliński. The author would like to also thank the help of Duane Vinson and the STR Share Center. The author also grateful to Märtha Andersen for comments and suggestions.Declarations of interest: none.Funding: This research was supported by National Science Centre, Poland: Project number 2017/27/N/HS4/00951.
Citation
Gyódi, K. (2022), "Airbnb and hotels during COVID-19: different strategies to survive", International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 168-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-09-2020-0221
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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