Is Airbnb no longer a sharing economy platform? Evidence from Europe’s top 10 Airbnb destinations

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the increasing professionalization and commercialization of Airbnb through multi-unit hosts who offer more than one listing. The process of professionalization brings the question of whether Airbnb is still considered as a sharing economy platform or it has already lost sharing economy ethos. To answer this question, this study focuses on Europe’s top 10 Airbnb destinations (respectively London, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Berlin, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan and Madrid). The descriptive analysis reveals that although Airbnb positions itself under the positive value of sharing economy, there are indications that it has become increasingly professional through commercial listings. In contrast to the original concept of sharing, the visibilities of multi-unit hosts, specialized in short-term rental business, have increased on the platform, and this situation indicates the tendency of Airbnb’s operating model from consumer-to-consumer to business-to-consumer. This change from peer producer to professional suppliers may open the door of the platform to be defined as a lodging corporation rather than a sharing economy company. This comparative study also shows that the commercialization level of Airbnb in the cities is quite different. This may be due to different regulations for the short-term rentals.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharing economy
• peer-to-peer accommodation
• Airbnb destinations
• multiple listings
• commercial listings

Acknowledgements

We would especially like to thank Prof. Dr. Şevket Işık, for his contribution in the data evaluation process. We would like to express our gratitude for the comments and help of Volkan Zoğal. Finally, we also would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers who made significant contributions.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [Inside Airbnb] at [http://insideairbnb.com/get-the-data.html].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Notes

1. In the fourth research question, SR was not included in the listing types due to its low numbers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ersin Demir

Ersin Demir is a PhD candidate in Human Geography. His main research interests are: tourism geography, sharing economy, peer-to-peer accommodation, CouchSurfing and Airbnb. He is currently working as a research assistant in the Department of Geography at Ege University.

Gözde Emekli

Gözde Emekli is a professor in the Department of Geography at Ege University since 2016. She is author of several papers on cultural geography, second home tourism, creative tourism, cultural heritage, rural studies and other urban cultural tourism studies. She is also reviewers for several journals including International Journal of Geography and Geography Education, Aegean Geographical Journal, Turkish Journal of Geographical Sciences, Turkish Geographical Review. Currently, she gives lectures on Tourism Geography, Urbanization in Turkey, Research Methods in Human Geography, European Union and Alternative Tourism Opportunities in Turkey for undergraduate and postgraduate students.