Accommodation sharing: a look beyond Airbnb’s literature

Abstract

PurposeAirbnb is the peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation platform that has attracted researchers’ attention during the past decade. The purpose of this paper attempts to illustrate the scarce research on P2P accommodation platforms other than Airbnb and to highlight the research gaps concerning these platforms.Design/methodology/approachThis study starts by presenting a literature review on Airbnb based on several review papers about P2P accommodation sharing and conducts a quantitative comparative analysis between existing literature on Airbnb and other P2P accommodation platforms in Web of Science (WoS) using a keyword search.FindingsFindings suggest that the literature regarding P2P accommodation platforms other than Airbnb is limited and that little is known about their possible impact on the collaborative tourism ecosystem. The analysis also suggests further research on P2P accommodation platforms to move on from an Airbnb-centric view and include other types of P2P accommodation platforms.Originality/valueThis paper compares the most common topics studied regarding Airbnb and other P2P accommodation platforms, highlighting the existence of other for-profit and non-profit accommodation platforms. It proposes new lines of research on different types of platforms such as the niche P2P accommodation platforms.