Relevant dimensions of tourist experiences in unique, alternative person-to-person accommodation—sharing castles, treehouses, windmills, houseboats or house-buses

ABSTRACT

The sharing economy is shifting hospitality services to more flexible patterns of supply. Travelers can explore alternative and more unique experiences, such as staying in a castle or a houseboat. Focusing on the features of these alternative peer-to-peer accommodation units and deeming the particularities of consumer behavior in the sharing economy, this study aims to identify and assess the relative importance of the main dimensions of guests’ experiences in a unique, alternative peer-to-peer accommodation. Procedures taken from netnography and content analysis were employed to review user-generated content taken from P2P accommodation platforms. Findings suggest that guests’ experiences in these unique accommodations are particularly influenced by the experience dimensions “relate/social interaction”, “sense/aesthetics/”, “feel”, “escape” and “sacred experience”. Managerial implications yielding improved marketing communication are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharing economy
• tourist experience
• experience dimensions
• alternative P2P accommodation
• passive netnography

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the insightful suggestions and constructive criticism of the reviewers.

Notes

1. See: https://www.flipkey.com/.

2. See: https://www.airbnb.com.br/wishlists/airbnb_p.

Additional information

Funding

The first author is financially supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, a Brazilian research-support agency [process number 0975/15-0] and Federal University of Pernambuco – Brazil.