Re-aligning market and hospitality assemblages: the case of peer-to-peer hospitality in Japan

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how non-professional hosts affect market formation in the hospitality industry. The data collected was derived from peer-to-peer (P2P) hospitality practices in Japan via platforms like Airbnb. The data showed a tension between market and hospitality principles of profit-making and welcoming strangers, respectively. Initially, it appeared that non-professional hosts would conduct business based on economic calculations or focussed on hospitality which may include uncosted incidental services. However, the empirical analysis reveals that whilst the market framings facilitate accommodation creation, in practice non-professional hosts forge an avenue between hospitality and commerce, at a distance from initial hospitality and market framings. In this way, the practices of non-professional actors challenge the purpose of both market exchange and private hospitality and actualise alternative forms of commercial hospitality. This study revisits Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of assemblage to contribute to explicate market formation at the intersection with non-market spheres.

KEYWORDS:

• Market assemblage
• deterritorialisation
• peer-to-peer economy
• hospitality
• Japan

Acknowledgements

I thank Pr. Yutaka Yamauchi from Kyoto University for his comments and continued support, Julien Cayla from Nanyang Business School, Tao Wang, Ai Hisano, Steven Ivings from Kyoto University, and the anonymous reviewers from Consumption Market & Culture journal for their invaluable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 See https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/minpaku/business/host/index_en.html

2 事業者, jigyousha, “business operator.”

3 This is roughly equivalent to US$ 550 dollars to US$ 10,000 dollars/month.

4 ホスト (hosuto).

5 ゲスト (gesuto).

6 ‘okyakusama’ means a ‘customer’ as well as a ‘visitor’ or a ‘guest’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marc Chataigner

Marc Chataigner is a PhD candidate at Kyoto University, Graduate School of Economics. His research focusses on understanding the agency and representation of people using peer-to-peer online platforms to develop micro-entrepreneurial careers. Marc works at EY-Seren as a Principal Service Designer. The views presented in this article are his own.