Design standardization by Airbnb multi-unit hosts

Huihui Zhang, Florian J. Zach and Zheng Xiang

Annals of Tourism Research, 2023, vol. 98, issue C

Abstract: Increased professionalism in the short-term rental market has enabled multi-unit hosts to replicate design features across their listings to increase efficiency; however, this standardization represents a huge risk caused by decreased flexibility. We identify the impacts of functional and aesthetic design standardization on guest experience and satisfaction using Airbnb as a case study. The findings show that design standardization impacts guest experience and satisfaction asymmetrically. The results provide implications for tourism place design by articulating the structural relationships of standardized design on guest experiences within the typically unstandardized home-sharing market. This study contributes to design literature by studying design from a strategic level and adds knowledge to standardization literature by testing customer-side outcomes within a micro-entrepreneurship context.

Keywords: Short-term rental; Functional & aesthetic design; Design standardization; Guest experience & satisfaction; Machine learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738322001748
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:anture:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s0160738322001748

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2022.103523

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Tourism Research is currently edited by John Tribe

More articles in Annals of Tourism Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().