Host type and pricing on Airbnb: Seasonality and perceived market power

Georges Casamatta (), Sauveur Giannoni (), Daniel Brunstein () and Johan Jouve ()
Additional contact information
Georges Casamatta: Università di Corsica
Sauveur Giannoni: Università di Corsica
Daniel Brunstein: Università di Corsica
Johan Jouve: Università di Corsica

No 21, Working Papers from Laboratoire Lieux, Identités, eSpaces et Activités (LISA)

Abstract: The literature on short-term rental emphasises the heterogeneity of the hosts pop- ulation. Some argue that professional and opportunistic hosts differ in terms of their pricing strategy. This study highlights how differences in market perception and in- formation create a price differential between professional and non-professional players. Proposing an original and accurate definition of professional hosts, we rely on a large dataset of almost 9,000 properties and 73,000 observations to investigate the pricing behaviour of Airbnb sellers in Corsica (France). Using OLS and the double-machine learning methods, we demonstrate that a price differential exists between professional and opportunistic sellers. In addition, we assess the impact of seasonality in demand on the size and direction of this price differential. Professionals perceive a higher de- gree of market power than others during the peak season and it allows them to enhance their revenues.

Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big and nep-pay
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://umrlisa.univ-corse.fr/RePEc/lia/pdf/WorkingPaper21.pdf First version, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lia:wpaper:021

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Laboratoire Lieux, Identités, eSpaces et Activités (LISA) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Florian Gueniot ().