Competitive advantages of boutique hotels in the context of a sharing economy

The sharing economy has developed as a business model and it is about to transform many industries. In terms of the tourism industry, the hotel sector is much vulnerable to the strategic breakthrough of online platforms providing shared accommodation. As consumers become more familiar with the opportunities offered by shared accommodation, hotels face a serious challenge and must respond appropriately to the threat of losing market positions. According some recent forecasts particularly the boutique hotels will be heavily affected by the expanding force of the sharing economy. The aim of the present paper is to highlight the key competitive advantages of boutique hotels through strategic benchmarking of the product they offer and the product offered by the online platforms for shared accommodation such as Airbnb. Finally, the paper set practical guidelines how boutique hotels can benefit from the effect that the sharing economy produces

Demographic or Psychographic Hotel Segmentation? The Emerging Market of Domestic Women Business Travellers

Market segmentation is a key marketing strategy practised by hotels. Adoption of a combination approach where demographic variables are amalgamated with the psychographic constructs can be utilized to segment the women on a domestic business trip. This will yield enlightening results for the hospitality marketers which will eventually enable them to design marketing mixes and products suited to fulfil the requirements and preferences of this particular segment of women. Using online surveys along with qualitative techniques for collecting data and analysing them through multivariate statistical techniques may take the hospitality industry to the next level of success

What drives customers to use access-based sharing options in the hospitality industry?

Access-based sharing businesses have gained popularity in the hospitality industry. The recent shift of customers’ willingness to share accommodation with a host as opposed to using a private hotel room has many implications for the traditional lodging sector. Sharing firms such as Airbnb effectively use an online platform to match a customer’s multiple needs with individual service providers and are able to create a unique personalised accommodation experience. This study utilised an abductive research approach to examine the theory and business practice through an iterative process. Following a detailed review of the literature, this study proposes a conceptual model to illustrate the relationship between three participants within the sharing context, namely customers, the sharing firms and the service providers and their relationship with online platforms and social media. This study also provides numerous research directions and practical guidelines for scholars and practitioners in the hospitality industry.Keywords: access-based sharing, trust, social media, Airbnb, peer-to-peer, online platform, customer relationshi

Faktory ovlivňující spokojenost se službami Airbnb

The objective of this undergraduate dissertation is to present factors that influence customer satisfaction and repurchase intention of Airbnb users and determine their importance. Airbnb is a digital sharing economy platform founded in 2008. As such, the number of research papers regarding customers' perception of the company is low. Identifying factors influencing customer satisfaction and repurchase intention will be beneficial for both Airbnb as a company and individual hosts. A quantitative research method was used to obtain data. An online self-administered survey was taken by 152 respondents who have used Airbnb at least once. The research has shown that the majority of Airbnb users are young people who are satisfied with the provided services and plan to use Airbnb again. The main factors influencing customer satisfaction are Financial benefits, Quality, and Collaborative consumption. As such, it is possible to determine that customers use Airbnb mainly for its practical attributes rather than Social interaction, Sustainability or Authenticity. A significant relationship between the factors and repurchase intention was not found. The impact of customer satisfaction on repurchase intention was not confirmed. This dissertation is supported by theories of sharing economy, collaborative consumption, customer satisfaction and previous studies regarding Airbnb and customer behaviour.Cílem této bakalářské práce je představit faktory, které ovlivňují zákaznickou spokojenost a záměr opětovného nákupu uživatelů Airbnb, a určit jejich význam. Airbnb je digitální platforma sdílené ekonomiky založená v roce 2008. Počet výzkumných prací týkajících se vnímání této společnosti zákazníky je tedy nízký. Identifikovat faktory ovlivňující spokojenost zákazníků a záměr opětovného nákupu bude prospěšné pro společnost Airbnb i pro jednotlivé hostitele. K získání dat byla použita metoda kvantitativního výzkumu. Online průzkumu se zúčastnilo 152 respondentů, kteří použili Airbnb alespoň jednou. Výzkum ukázal, že většina uživatelů Airbnb jsou mladí lidé, kteří jsou s poskytovanými službami spokojeni a plánují Airbnb využít znovu. Hlavními faktory, které ovlivňují spokojenost zákazníků, jsou Finanční benefity, Kvalita a Spoluspotřebitelství. Je tedy možné usoudit, že zákazníci používají Airbnb hlavně kvůli praktickým atributům spíše než kvůli Sociální interakci, Udržitelnost nebo Autenticitě. Nebyl nalezen významný vztah mezi faktory a opětovným nákupem. Vliv zákaznické spokojenosti na záměr opětovného nákupu nebyl potvrzen. Tato bakalářská práce vychází z teorií sdílené ekonomiky, spoluspotřebitelství a zákaznické spokojenosti a také předchozích studií týkajících se Airbnb a chování zákazníků.116 - Katedra marketingu a obchoduvýborn

TURNING CONSUMERS INTO PROVIDERS IN THE SHARING ECONOMY: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND MOTIVES

The sharing economy is an emerging industry with potential for ensuring sustainable economic growth since it is based on underused resources. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of demographic characteristics (age, gender, education and income) and motives (financial benefits, fun, meeting people and social responsibility) on turning a sharing economy consumer into a provider. Descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis has been carried out on data from a large survey conducted in twelve European countries on the state of the sharing economy. The empirical results show that men and individuals under 35 years of age are more likely to participate in the sharing economy as providers. Moreover, consumers who are more driven by altruistic motives and less by financial benefits are more likely to offer their services as providers. This research can be useful to policy makers and managers in exploring the opportunities of supporting broader participation in offering services as providers in the sharing economy

TURNING CONSUMERS INTO PROVIDERS IN THE SHARING ECONOMY: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND MOTIVES

The sharing economy is an emerging industry with potential for ensuring sustainable economic growth since it is based on underused resources. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of demographic characteristics (age, gender, education and income) and motives (financial benefits, fun, meeting people and social responsibility) on turning a sharing economy consumer into a provider. Descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis has been carried out on data from a large survey conducted in twelve European countries on the state of the sharing economy. The empirical results show that men and individuals under 35 years of age are more likely to participate in the sharing economy as providers. Moreover, consumers who are more driven by altruistic motives and less by financial benefits are more likely to offer their services as providers. This research can be useful to policy makers and managers in exploring the opportunities of supporting broader participation in offering services as providers in the sharing economy

User Roles on Peer-to-Peer Sharing Platforms: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies

The success of sharing platforms such as Airbnb and Uber sparked interests in research, practice, and legislation in equal measures. However, studies about user roles on sharing platforms are very heterogeneous and have yet not dived into the theoretical complexity of these roles. In order to prevent incomparability of results and scattered theory building, this study reviews existing literature and identifies flaws in terminology and conceptualization of user roles and in applied measurement approaches. We discuss why these flaws matter and how they can be resolved. Finally, we propose a research agenda and emphasize to study the role of the prosumer, why different user roles lead to differences in constructs, and how the transition of user roles takes place

How Airbnb Conveys Social and Economic Value through User Representation

New platforms for renting and sharing among private individuals are emerging in today’s e-commerce landscape. Airbnb can be regarded as a representative of many such platforms. Such accommodation rental commonly implies shared usage where both host and guest occupy a space at the same time, involving social interactions that can provide additional value. Drawing on social reward theory, this paper proposes a research model that links the guest’s intention to book to the host’s user representa-tion via the pathways of social and economic value. We propose a design to evaluate our research model by means of a scenario-based online experiment, including the common elements of user repre-sentation (1) text reviews, (2) profile information (e.g., occupation, hobbies and interests), (3) star rating, and (4) the listing price. With this, we expect to contribute to a better understanding of the driving factors behind guests’ booking decisions in accommodation sharing