Factors influencing the preferences between Airbnb and hotel
List of Authors
  • Ezdihar Hamzah , Lim Kian Fung

Keyword
  • Peer-to-peer accommodation, Hotel, Airbnb, Malaysia, Relative Importance Index (RII)

Abstract
  • In recent years, sharing economy has been recognized as a new business platform in peer-to-peer accommodation market worldwide. Airbnb is one of the leading sharing economy platform that offers sharing accommodation. There are 308,207 hotel rooms and more than 53,000 of Airbnb listings in Malaysia in year 2019. Both hotel and Airbnb platform are competing between each other in getting guests to use their lodging service and the competition between Airbnb and hotel is getting more intense since the number of both accommodation are increasing from day to day. Therefore, both the Airbnb hosts and hotel operators should know the factors that will influence guests’ decisions making in renting an accommodation in order to increase their competitiveness. The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that will affect guests’ decision making in renting an accommodation between peer-to-peer accommodation and hotel. Besides, it is also to analyse the priority of guests’ preferences in renting an accommodation. A questionnaire survey is conducted through online to identify the perceptions of respondents on the factors that will influence their decision making in renting an accommodation. Frequency analysis and relative importance index are used in this study to analyse the data obtained from the questionnaire survey. As a result, cleanliness and hygiene of accommodation appeared to be the most significant factor which will affect guests’ decision making in renting an accommodation between Airbnb and hotel among the other factors with highest relative importance index value of 0.928. This is followed by safety of security of accommodation, price, service quality, functional attributes and amenities of accommodation, location, friendliness and responsiveness of host and staff and lastly the least significant factor which is reputation of hotel brand and host profile with lowest relative importance index value of 0.778. In a nutshell, the findings of this study will beneficial to the hotel operators and Airbnb hosts in improving the competitiveness and attractiveness of their accommodations.

Reference
  • 1. Airbnb. (2019). Fast facts. Airbnb. Retrieved on November 2019 from https://news.airbnb.com/fast-facts/

    2. Amin, M., Yahya, Z., Ismayatim, W. F. A., Nasharuddin, S. Z., & Kassim, E. (2013). Service quality dimension and customer satisfaction: An empirical study in the Malaysian hotel industry. Services Marketing Quarterly, 34(2), 115-125.

    3. Birinci, H., Berezina, K., & Cobanoglu, C. (2018). Comparing customer perceptions of hotel and peer-to-peer accommodation advantages and disadvantages. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(2), 1190-1210.

    4. Dietrich, C. (2010). Decision making: Factors that influence decision making, heuristics used, and decision outcomes, Student Pulse, 2 (2), 1-7. Retrieved from http://www.studentpulse.com/a?id=180

    5. Elwyn, G., & Miron‐Shatz, T. (2010). Deliberation before determination: the definition and evaluation of good decision making. Health Expectations, 13(2), 139-147.

    6. Ert, E., Fleischer, A., & Magen, N. (2016). Trust and reputation in the sharing economy: The role of personal photos in Airbnb. Tourism Management, 55, 62-73.

    7. Guttentag, D. A., & Smith, S. L. (2017). Assessing Airbnb as a disruptive innovation relative to hotels: Substitution and comparative performance expectations. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 64, 1-10.

    8. Guttentag, D., Smith, S., Potwarka, L., & Havitz, M. (2018). Why tourists choose Airbnb: A motivation-based segmentation study. Journal of Travel Research, 57(3), 342-359.

    9. Hiransomboon, K., 2012. Marketing Mix Affecting Accommodation Service Buying Decisions of Backpacker Tourist Traveling at Inner Rattanakosin Island in

    a. Bangkok, Thailand. Procedia Economics and Finance 3, pp. 276-283.

    10. Jarod Lim (2019, May 23) Tough times in hospitality industry. The Star. Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2019/05/23/tough-times-in-hospitality-industry

    11. Jones, P. & Lockwood, A. 2002. The Management of Hotel Operations.

    12. Khoo-Lattimore, C. & Prayag, G. (2016). Accommodation preferences of the girlfriend getaway market in Malaysia: Self-image, satisfaction and loyalty.

    a. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(12), pp.

    b. 2748-2770.

    13. Khoo-Lattimore, C., & Ekiz, E. H. (2014). Power in praise: Exploring online compliments on luxury hotels in Malaysia. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 14(3), 152-159.

    14. Kim, J., Yoon, Y., & Zo, H. (2015, July). Why People Participate in the Sharing Economy: A Social Exchange Perspective. In PACIS (p. 76).

    15. Kumaraswamy, M.M. and Chan, D.W.M. (1998). Contributors to construction delays. Construction Management and Economics, 16(1): 17–29. https://doi. org/10.1080/014461998372556.

    16. Levendis, J., & Dicle, M. F. (2016). The neighborhood impact of Airbnb on New Orleans. Available at SSRN 2856771.

    17. Liu, S. Q., & Mattila, A. S. (2017). Airbnb: Online targeted advertising, sense of power, and consumer decisions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 60, 33-41.

    18. Naletova, V. (2017). How Travelers Choose Accommodation Online.

    19. Pappas, N. (2017). The complexity of purchasing intentions in peer-to-peer accommodation. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(9), 2302-2321.

    20. Razli, I. A., Jamal, S. A., & Zahari, M. S. M. (2017). Airbnb: An overview of a new platform for peer to peer accommodation in Malaysia. Advanced Science Letters, 23(8), 7829-7832.

    21. Rhee, H. T., & Yang, S. B. (2015). How does hotel attribute importance vary among different travelers? An exploratory case study based on a conjoint analysis. Electronic markets, 25(3), 211-226.

    22. Rooshdi, R. R. R. M., Majid, M. Z. A., Sahamir, S. R., & Ismail, N. A. A. (2018). Relative importance index of sustainable design and construction activities criteria for green highway. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 63, 151-156.

    23. SANIB, R., IZZA, N., ABDUL AZIZ, Y. U. H. A. N. I. S., SAMDIN, Z., & AB RAHIM, K. H. A. L. I. D. (2013). Comparison of Marketing Mix Dimensions between Local and International Hotel Customers in Malaysia. International Journal of Economics & Management, 7(2).

    24. Tussyadiah, I. P. (2016). Factors of satisfaction and intention to use peer-to-peer accommodation. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 55, 70-80.

    25. Tussyadiah, I. P., & Zach, F. (2017). Identifying salient attributes of peer-to-peer accommodation experience. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(5), 636-652.

    26. Varma, A., Jukic, N., Pestek, A., Shultz, C. J., & Nestorov, S. (2016). Airbnb: Exciting innovation or passing fad?. Tourism Management Perspectives, 20, 228-237.

    27. Weng, S. C. (2018). Hotel vs. Airbnb: What Attributes Do Travelers Value The Most?.

    28. Wilkins, H., Merrilees, B., & Herington, C. (2007). Towards an understanding of total service quality in hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(4), 840-853.

    29. Woon, A. K. & Ch’ng, C. B. (2019) FACTORS INFLUENCING PURCHASE INTENTION AMONG MALAYSIANS IN SELECTING AIRBNB ACCOMMODATION.

    30. Wu, M. H. (2014). Relationships among source credibility of electronic word of mouth, perceived risk, and consumer behavior on consumer generated media (Masters Theses). 1896-February 2014, Paper 984. Retrieved September 2, 2014.

    31. Yamane, T. (1967). Statistics: An introductory analysis, 2nd Ed., New York