Do professional hosts matter? Evidence from multi-listing and full-time hosts in Airbnb

Abstract

Professional hosts who operate more than one listing or in a full-time manner on peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sharing platforms are growing. This study investigates (1) the effect of customer evaluation on property performance through online traveler reviews, (2) the difference of property performance between host types, and (3) how the effect of customer evaluation on property performance varies by host types. A large-scale, longitudinal dataset of the entire State of California is used for econometric analyses. A property managed by a multi-listing host makes 27.8% more revenue per available night (RevPAN) than a property managed by a single-listing host in a month. In contrast, a property managed by a full-time host makes 23.8% less RevPAN than its counterpart managed by a part-time host. While customer evaluation positively affects listing performance, its effect is divergent between professional hosts, weaker for a multi-listing host but magnified for a full-time host.