Airbnb Branding: Heritage as a Branding Element in the Sharing Economy

Abstract

The cultural heritage of cities has been proven to be a generator of economic activity and a singular place branding/marketing tool for territories. In addition, in recent times, there has been a boom in the collaborative economy in urban destinations, epitomized by accommodation companies, such as Airbnb. The main objective of this article was to analyze how cultural heritage adds value to the collaborative economy. To this end, a method was proposed that analyzed Airbnb host descriptions, detecting the cultural and heritage goods mentioned, therein, which are used as marketing elements. From these cultural assets, various econometric models were generated that aimed to assess the number of guest reviews, which were used as a proxy for the number of guests. To evaluate this method, a case study was developed in the city of Bilbao. In view of the results, it can be concluded that cultural heritage and spatial location positively influence the activity of the collaborative economy, increasing the number of guests and their economic value.

A decade of systematic literature review on Airbnb: the sharing economy from a multiple stakeholder perspective

“…(2019) Host race Listing description Törnberg and Chiappini (2020) Host self-presentation Guest response to self-presentation strategy Trust Tussyadiah and Park (2018) Zarifis et al. (2019) Host language style in listing profile Guest segmentation and targeting Number of guest reviews Lutz and Newlands (2018) Fierro and Aranburu (2018) Host linguistic and semantic features in self-description Trust Zhang et al. (2020) e. Host motivations Economic opportunities Social benefits Macro-level determinants National cultural values The decision to host on Airbnb Host-guest interaction level Dogru et al.…”

“…The fourth theme revolves around how hosts market their listings. The literature offers insights about the way hosts market their listings on Airbnb using their profiles and listing descriptions ( Fierro and Aranburu, 2018 ; Han et al., 2019 ; Lutz and Newlands, 2018 ; Nieto García et al., 2019 ; Törnberg and Chiappini, 2020 ; Tussyadiah and Park, 2018 ; Zarifis et al., 2019 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). The literature reveals that hosts are encouraged to use social words in their listing descriptions to achieve higher revenue ( Han et al., 2019 ; Nieto García et al., 2019 ).…”

A Systematic Literature Review. Relationships between the Sharing Economy, Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals

“…On the one hand, it causes gentrification in cities like Barcelona [38], but on the other hand, platforms such as Airbnb offer the possibility for growth of a new touristic model. The cultural heritage and location of the homes increases the number of users of the platforms [39]. In short, there is a discussion of what should prevail, either the conservation of space for locals or the promotion of collaborative economy platforms that are often used by tourists.…”

Guest editorial

“…For example, the provision of robust information to participants is more likely to be related to cost-based strategy than differentiation-based strategies (Clemons et al , 2019). For example, hosts describing local cultural and heritage destinations nearby the accommodation site can gain increased number of guests and revenue (Fierro and Aranburu, 2019). Also, the way Airbnb hosts' self-description strategies stimulate different consumer responses, with well-travelled hosts are likely to enhance trust and booking intention of consumers (Tussyadiah and Park, 2018).…”