Airbnb Advantages And Disadvantages

Airbnb, a short form of Air, Bed & Breakfast, defined itself as a “trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world online or from a mobile phone or table” (Airbnb,2017). It allows people to rent out their rooms or properties as an accommodation alternative for tourists through a secure online platform. The company mission is “to create a world where people can belong anywhere they travel, connecting with local cultures and enjoying unique travel experiences” (Airbnb, 2017). Airbnb consists of guests and hosts through online offering on website (www.airbnb.com), and mobile applications for both Android and iOS customers. The website is helpful and simple to use like other bookings

shared rooms, private rooms, entire houses or apartments, villas) to exotic lodgings (e.g. penthouses, treehouses, tipis, caves, igloos, moored yachts, houseboats, private islands, or castles). Also, the accommodations are vary widely from the simplest to extremely luxurious. Guests enter the destination, dates, and number of guests when they search the properties. In addition, guests can further use variety of filters to be more specific including room type, price range, rooms and beds, amenities, facilities, house rules, neighborhood, and host language. Airbnb provide a 0.9 million dollars extra security for hosts to gain their trust if the guest cause

telephone, photo ID and social network profile verification). They can directly send the request or message to the host to show their interest or ask questions. Then after the hosts see the guests’ review and personal identities, they may accept or reject the reservations within 24 hours. Airbnb earns revenue from both hosts and guests on each confirmed reservation. The hosts will be charged 3% for the host service fee, while the guests will be charged typically 6-12 % depending on the length of stay, for the guest service fee on top of the booking to cover cost of processing the transaction such as customer support and the Host Guarantee. After the guests pay and the host confirms the booking, Airbnb holds the payment and release to the host 24 hours after check-in through Airbnb payment system which supports many payout methods and currencies such as Paypal, automated clearing house, and Western Union. Each completed stay, both guests and hosts have to rate each other. The guests give feedbacks and star ratings of their accommodation and service offered by the