Short-term rental market crisis management during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stakeholders’ perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103147Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The study examines short-term rental industry response to COVID-19 pandemic.

  • The short-term rental industry lacked preparedness for a long-term global crisis.

  • Short-term rental platforms adopted high level of communication with stakeholders.

  • Ambivalent reactions from stakeholders to short-term rental platform responses.

  • Temporary short -term rental switch to long-term rental market in some countries.

Abstract

Contingency plans and crisis management strategies have been implemented by the short-term rental industry to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the strategies adopted by three key groups of stakeholders: short-term rental platforms (e.g. Airbnb, Booking.com), service providers (represented by property management companies and short-term rental associations) and policymakers/tourism experts. The professional service providers, in particular, constitute a significant share of the short-term rental industry, but have not received much scholarly attention. In this respect, our study fills this gap by bringing attention to unexplored segments of the short-term rental industry. By examining and comparing the responses from these key groups, the paper contributes to the ongoing research about the workings of the short-term rental industry and its responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Keywords

Airbnb
Booking.com
COVID-19
Crisis management
Short-term rentals
Stakeholders

Data Availability

Data will be anonymized (if needed) and made available on request.

Cited by (0)

View Abstract