Keywords

JEL Classification

1 Introduction

With the global economic downturn and increasing Internet confidence and online payments, there has been a significant shift towards accessing goods through their ownership. The tourism industry is the sector most affected by the rapid development of shared use and co-consumption.

One of the most critical developments in the hotel industry is the development of the sharing economy. With transactions being co-ordinated over the Internet and occurring between individuals, large brands in distinctive sectors have felt the financial impact of these online platforms on resource allocation. In recent years, this trend has evolved into highly profitable business models. For hoteliers, the opportunities and challenges that this market presents can make the difference between success and bankruptcy. The conventional hospitality experience is in question and tested in unthinkable ways just a few years ago. For hoteliers who embrace technological developments and understand the need for continuous improvement from the experience of visitors, this opportunity is acceptable.

Sharing is inherent and intuitive and is inextricably linked to the evolution of human development. Sharing is one of the oldest human behaviors (Rinne et al. 2015). The world population has established itself in the dominant property culture. The emerging business model of the exchange economy is a broad trend that affects every field of society and business. In the economy of exchange referred to as “collective consumption” – the consumers have the power to deal directly with each other, a disruptive collective behavior that redefines traditional market relationships and already affects ubiquitous business models of production, distribution and consumption. The economy of exchange is not a temporary trend, but rather “a strong cultural and economic power not to discover just what we consume but how we consume, an effective transition from an ego culture to a culture of we”.

The economy of exchange goes far beyond the hospitality industry. The rapid growth of this economic model is a global phenomenon and covers a wide range of products and services. Companies such as Zipcar and Pro belong to the ecosystem. Airbnb, which has opened the way to hosting hospitality, is subject to competition and is no longer the only player. HomeAway, Wimdu and 9Flats have also penetrated traditional hotel experience. The aim of this paper is to go deep into the case of the consumers’ behaviour towards airbnb in Greece. It is a topic which has not been widely researched and surely this paper will give value. The paper aims on referring the use of airbnb in Greece and the use of sharing economy in Greece, with emphasis on the consumers’ behaviour. This is a literature review which will rely on the existing theory and papers. The research’s expected results is to give some fresh glance over who consumes behave towards airbnb.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Sharing Economy

While people have shared their resources for thousands of years, sharing isomony is a new concept. It has emerged in recent years, and its growth has been caused by a number of factors, namely the recent economic downturn that has led citizens to look for chHOUer goods and services. The increasing need for community involvement in the decoupled world, greater awareness of environmental issues and technological developments involving affiliated shareholders who are not personally aware (Gansky 2010). Technological progress has been central to the development of the exchange economy as it has facilitated the reduction of transaction costs. In fact, the distinction between “traditional” sharing and the exchange economy is the use of ICT (Belk 2014). The exchange economy is currently increasing by 25% per year. In 2013, its value exceeded $3.5 billion (Dubois et al. 2014). It has been called the incumbent’s disrupter for its significant and growing market share.

The exchange is “the most universal form of human economic behavior, distinct and more fundamental than reciprocity, exchange has probably the most basic form of economic distribution in human societies for several hundred thousand years” (Belk 2014: 715). Thus, sharing is not a new phenomenon. However, the economy of sharing is a new form of exchange that has emerged in recent years. The basis of the economy of the exchange economy is a kind of “zero sum” of the sharing of natural objects. The difference between “traditional” exchange and the economy of sharing is the exploitation of modern information technology.

A PwC report on the exchange economy (PwC 2015: 5) used the following definition: “exchange economies allow individuals and groups to make money by making good use of assets,” underlining economic growth and use excess resources. Botsman (2013) distinguishes between the exchange economy and the peer economy. It defines the sharing economy as “an economic model based on the exchange of unused assets from spaces to skills for things for monetary or non-monetary benefits”. However, this definition was accused of being “too broad” (Belk 2014: 1597). Schor (2015) described the following definition: “the exchange economy is face-to-face, facilitated by digital platforms” (page 14). Although Schor (2015) talks about economic activity, it also includes platforms that do not involve any exchange of money, and points out that when owners make profits, they are no longer sharing a rent. It underlines that some non-profit platforms are for sharing only. However, profitable, innovative platforms are growing faster because they mobilize their users financially.

2.2 Incentives to Participate in Accommodation Exchange Platforms

Botsman and Rogers (2010) argue that participation in exchange platforms creates “social capital” as it enables members to share their culture and gain intercultural experiences. “Social capital” is defined as “trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated action” (Botsman and Rogers 2011). The authors believe that social capital is an important reason why people share platforms. A study by Flåt and von der Fehr (2012) on non-proprietary consumption collected incentives from a number of studies. The factors that are relevant to the accommodation exchange platforms are: perceived economic profit, variety and experience they seek, image and orientation, and ecology.

The division of platforms into non-profit, mutual and rental platforms is supported by the results of a series of studies on the incentives for users to join common platforms. These studies show that members are on platforms for different reasons. Overall, their motives are grouped into inherent, social and environmental and practical needs and economic benefits. Incentive factors vary depending on what is shared and whether the user is a debtor or a lender. However, while studies have been conducted on specific sharing platforms, to date, no comparative study has dealt with this issue. Differences in the methods used in these studies do not allow the results to be compared (Botsman and Rogers 2010).

2.3 Airbnb, the Short for “Airbed and Breakfast”

Airbnb, the short for “Airbed and Breakfast”, is a global online community rental market for accommodation. Airbnb describes itself as a “trusted community market” for people to record, discover and book, unique accommodation around the world, and is an example of a peer-to-peer market (P2P) in the sharing economy. Future hosts list their free rooms or apartments on the Airbnb platform, create their own nightly, weekly or monthly rates, and present and offer accommodation to guests. Unlike traditional accommodation companies, Airbnb does not own its own rooms but provides a platform for people to record or close accommodations. Airbnb is traded as a social experience where the traveler will have the opportunity to “live like the locals” (Williams et al. 2015).

The spectacular development of Airbnb and similar initiatives is still very recent to be fully reflected in the academic literature. In general, a limited number of studies either study the phenomenon as a showcase of the emerging “common economy”, or analyze specific features of supply: its business model and subversive results, consumer acceptance and trust, positive and negative impacts on city destinations and regulatory issues.

If the studies on Airbnb are considered as part of the networked economy, two explanations for its success dominate: Ideal motivation and, in particular, the authenticity of P2P contact to the experience of the accommodation market, on the one hand, and financial benefits for guests and visitors, on the other hand, and other P2P trips are categorized by Botsman and Rogers (2010) as examples of “Cooperative Lifestyles” combining the “benefits of ownership with reduced personal cost and cost, and amiloteres environmental impact. “ The desire for social interaction is often seen as the main driver of the development of the phenomenon. Airbnb earns revenue from both guests and guests for this service: guests pay 9–12% service fees for each booking depending on the duration of their stay and the hosts pay a 3% service fee for to cover the cost of processing the payments. The higher the subset, that’s it lower is the end. Airbnb charges are not refunded unless the server cancels it. A property listed on Airbnb is called “listing”, a member of the Airbnb community who records its assets or its owner is called a “host” and a member of the Airbnb community holding a property is called “visitor”. Since its inception in 2008, Airbnb’s online market has grown rapidly, with over two million owners worldwide and more than 50 million visitors using the service (Williams et al. 2015).

Airbnb’s business model currently operates with few regulatory controls in most locations, and as a result, guests are encouraged to use signaling mechanisms to build trust and maximize the likelihood of a successful detention (Alba 2015). To enhance this behavior, Airbnb has created an electronic reputation system that allows and encourages participants to evaluate and review each completed stay. Guests use star ratings to assess the characteristics of their stay, e.g. cleanliness, location and communication, while both guests and hosts are encouraged to publish public reviews of each platform stay (Caufield 2010).

There is limited information on user demographics, but in 2012 Airbnb reported that about 40% of its visitors were Americans, with Europeans being the majority of the rest (Taylor 2012). At that time, more than half of its catalogs were in Europe and a little over a quarter was in North America, and at the beginning of 2015 the company confirmed that more than half of its catalogs were still in Europe (Shead 2015). Also, an Airbnb report on her performance in the summer of 2015 indicated that the average age of the guests was 35 (Airbnb 2015), which is consistent with a previous survey that the average age of hospitality was 36 (Williams 2014).

2.4 Airnb’s Business Model

Despite the significant growth and capabilities of this new industry, Herb is facing several strategic issues. Airbnb lacks a viable competitive advantage, faces a large influx of new competitors and also addresses multiple legal and market confidence issues. Airbnb has to set the direction to move forward or risk losing its competitive position in this emerging industry (Newcomer and Chang 2016).

By allowing free entry and free access to list properties, Airbnb quickly overcame the original mobilization barrier and attracted dedicated visitors and hosts. Users are free to browse as they please and are only required to pay a service fee when making a reservation, allowing Airbnb to maximize the number of possible transactions. Airbnb has expanded into its first asset, focusing on customer service and satisfaction. Creating a reputation for personalization, trustworthiness and trust, Airbnb attracted users who really believed in the value of the brand that the company created. To create this ecosystem, Airbnb used transaction revenue to implement systems such as improved customer verification, $ million theft/loss insurance, authentic customer reviews, and social connections. All of these factors helped Airbnb create a highly scaled business model that led to many promising economic returns (Coldwell 2016).

For visitors, Airbnb is primarily a low cost option. The hosts of Airbnb are also ranked first or significantly by economic agents. This financial incentive does not run counter to the social or environmental advantages that consumers can use to share. However, an important aspect is to look into the future of Airbnb is whether its economic impact will still be that “people need to buy less goods while at the same time they have access to the services of these goods” (Guttentag 2015).

This economic aspect is essential to Airbnb’s business model. P2P rentals follow the same business models as traditional B & B, apart from the community’s impact and the promotional advantage of Airbnb’s global platform. Compared to hotels, Airbnb offers hospitality at competitive pricing, because in the case of private homes, fixed costs such as rent and electricity are already covered due to minimum labor costs, while Airbnb’s income is usually an additional income, and stays are usually not taxed. The business model of the platform itself is based on commissions paid by visitors (6–12%) and hosts (3%), (Guttentag 2015).

Therefore, P2P housing can be considered as a two-sided market in which platform facilitates and gives value to both sides, bringing buyers and sellers ‘on board’.) Pricing favors or “subsidizes” the host side of the case or Airbnb as part of the company’s growth strategy: vendors are motivated to join the network, maximizing their attractiveness for applicants for housing. Unlike most traditional companies, models, in the case of dual-sided platforms, lead to increasing scale returns as users pay more for access to a larger network (Eisenmann 2006). Therefore, it does not surprise the fact of this platform as it continues to add listings to its offer (currently 1.5 million) and this shows a continuous and explosive growth (Newcomer and Chang 2016).

To operate this business model, Airbnb had to address three key issues: bringing guests and hosts in touch, avoiding a direct negotiation and creating confidence as a prerequisite for transactions to take place. Marketing is the one that defines Airbnb from the traditional holiday rental market. The philosophy of “sharing” and the image of a warm and authentic community - as it is mainly broadcast on television testimonies—was indispensable to persuade hosts and guests to join the network. But at the same time, direct trade between the two parties had to be avoided as this would lead to a unilateral business. The company does this directly through an algorithm that blocks messages containing phone numbers or e-mail addresses, offering services to facilitate transactions such as credit card payment, pricing tools, and insurance (Newcomer and Chang 2016).

More recently, Airbnb has examined the use of its own cleaning service (Lavler 2012). He offered free smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in thousands of hosts Airbnb (2016). Launched an operation “Instant Booking” that allows making reservations to certain rents immediately without explicit approval from the host computer Airbnb (2016c) (which should not only help visitors with their accommodation choice but encourage optimal service by the hosts) and modified revision procedures to encourage more honest (i.e. less positive) revisions. The Airbnb has also spent many years experimenting with the potential to offer various activities and other travel experiences and services (e.g. guided tour, tasting drinks, bicycle rental and restaurant reservations) and obviously will officially launch the initiative by the end of 2016. In addition, Airbnb recently tried to attract business travelers, who represent a small percentage of visitors of Airbnb, creating a special business travel portal with personalized search results management tools and management and introducing a mark “Business Travel Ready”, which can be won by entries with certain characteristics (Newcomer and Chang 2016).

2.5 The Development of Airbnb

The company was founded by three recent university graduates in mid-2008, as mentioned above. The site initially offered only shared rooms and private rooms (but not entire houses) and focused on providing accommodation during major events, but the service quickly evolved into the broader apartment rental service as it is today (Botsman and Rogers 2010). Although popularity was limited early, by mid-2010 the company’s growth course started sharply upwards and from there it continues long ago. In February 2011, Airbnb reached a total of one million overnight stays, and by June 2011 Airbnb had booked 2 million nights, in January 2012 it had closed a total of five million nights and by June 2012 had closed a total of 10 Millions of Nights (Taylor 2012). At this point, probably due to increasing regulatory tensions, Airbnb stopped reporting the total booked booked nights and began to report the total number of visitors who had used the service. In July 2014, Airbnb reported that more than 17 million visitors had used the service, with over one million visitors using it each month (Friedman 2014). In January 2015, Airbnb reported that 30 million visitors had used the service, with nearly 20 million users only using it in 2014 (Chesky 2015). Later in 2015, the company reported that 17 million visitors had used Airbnb only in the summer of that year Airbnb (2015). In early 2016, the company reported that over 60 million visitors had used the service Airbnb (2016). And in the summer of 2016 Airbnb said that 100 million visitors had used the service (Chafkin and Newcomer 2016).

Along with the number of visitors, Airbnb’s listings Airbnb had 50,000 entries in late 2010, 200,000 entries in mid-2012, 300,000 registrations in early 2013, 500,000 registrations by the end of 2013, 800,000 entries by autumn 2014, more than one million entries until the end of 2010 end of 2014 Airbnb (2016), covering almost all countries of the world Airbnb (2016). Although one should remember that Airbnb’s occupancy rate is lower than the hotel and that Airbnb’s listings are not always available, it is still remarkable that Airbnb now offers more rooms than even the world’s largest hotel companies. From an economic point of view, Airbnb remains a private company, which complicates valuations. A round of financing at the end of 2015 provided equity to investors at a valuation of USD 25.5 billion (Alba 2015), but these investment estimates tend to outweigh the real value of a company (Frier and Newcomer 2015).

3 Methodology

The methodology used in the present paper is the critical review of the literature.

The sources of relevant literature investigation derived from popular online bibliographic databases, such as Science Direct, Emerald, EBSCO host and scientific search engines such as Google Scholar and Scirus. General search engines such as Google have also been examined.

The types of bibliographic sources included in the research are articles published on scientific journals, books, conference proceedings, company papers and studies, white papers, online sites and online journals. The selection criteria of these literature sources were based on the relevance to the topic of the paper and this research is not exhaustive.

4 Discussion—The Consumers’ Behavior and Attitudes Towards Airbnb

The operation of airbnb started in America and soon expanded around the world. It should be stressed that in recent years we have seen the development of many platforms in transport and tourism services based on the consumer’s ability to come—via the platform—into contact with the service provider but mainly to evaluate the service and share the evaluation with the public. This is a particular element of differentiation that causes the service provider to enter into a process of continuous improvement and upgrading of services (Möhlmann 2015). One such example is the Beat (former taxibeat) that managed to change the way the taxi industry operates, although it has encountered great resistance. The fact that consumers could evaluate the professional motorist was an element that boosted the industry, but also a point of friction with trade unionists.

The fact that users can choose an apartment at a very low cost is a key incentive to choose accommodation from the airbnb. Concerning the satisfaction and choice criteria of an accommodation in the airbnb, elements such as price and value, cleanliness, relevance of what is described in the real estate description as well as assessment by other users are key factors affecting the satisfaction of users in the airbnb (Tussyadiah 2016). The study by Liang (2015) states that critical factors of satisfaction are consumers’ perception of how authentic the accommodation is. This means that the aesthetics and the elements inside the accommodation (furniture, brightness, view, etc.) will judge satisfaction. Also other items mentioned are the word of mouth from other guests and the price sensitivity (prince sensitivity) depending on the prices of the other accommodation that the platform has in the same area as well as the hotel prices. At this point it should be stressed that there are two basic selection variables. The first is the price. Although there are many factors that influence the choice of accommodation in the airbnb as well as the percentage of satisfaction, the price is the basic criterion. If the user believes that the accommodation matches the price given then he/she will say satisfied. The second element is the trends. Airbnb has been dynamically in place as a fashion for many young people who want to travel to the world at a low cost but also with a satisfactory level of service (Priporas et al. 2017). It should be noted that the efficiency of airbnb is judged by the fact that for 2017 its value amounts to 10 billion dollars and its capitalization is higher than that of Hyatt, one of the largest hotel chains in the world (Apostolopoulos 2017). The study by Forno and Garibaldi (2015) states that in America alone for 2018 there will be 5 million overnight stays via airbnb while 2800 jobs and 450 million revenue from the hotel industry are threatened, as well as 108 million from the focus market. The study by Dubois et al. (2014) goes a step further and states that the use of airbnb adversely affects the indirect revenues of hotels, such as the use of luggage charges, the cost of cancellation of reservations, events, tips, use of telephone and other services, etc. The same study states that for every 10% increase in the size of airbnb, a 2% to 3% reduction in the hotel industry should be expected. There are also revenue losses for the state. Only for the state of New York it was estimated that in 2014 it lost revenue of the order of 226 million dollars due to the tax on bookings made through airbnb are different from those of hotels. Total housing and state rents in New York state are $2.1 billion (Dubois et al. 2014). Another article refers to a phenomenon recorded in Greece (mainly in Rethymno, Chania and some areas in the center of Athens), which is that the concentration of airbnb uses in very specific geographic areas reduces the supply of free real estate resulting in the difficulty of finding rental housing and rising prices (Staff Writer 2015). Of course, it should be noted that this is the function of the market and certainly since real estate owners can make revenue and boom the local economy, then hotels and the state should adapt to this new reality. Indeed, the study by Dubois et al. (2014) refers to the fact that those most affected by airbnb are lower-end hotels as well as hotels with no business facilities. On the contrary, hotels that are from 3 stars or more are not affected. The reason is because the airbnb audience is mainly people up to 40 years of low income that if there was no airbnb did not travel or would choose a more economical destination. This also shows that airbnb is not as hostile to the hotel industry as some believe. On the contrary, it provides opportunities for tourists to stay longer in a destination with the corresponding benefits for local businesses. At the same time, a tourist who has medium or high incomes will prefer a good hotel for the number of services he can offer. As for the consumer himself, the study by Einav et al. (2016) notes that there are significant benefits. These are (A) for low- and middle-income consumers that they can find a cost-effective solution to the city center and (b) the fact that airbnb has the effect of lowering accommodation prices or creating better deals. For the Greek environment, the relevant studies are limited. Although there are many newspapers, there is no scientifically validated study of the effect of airbnb on the economy but also on the consumer profile. Some relevant studies have been identified only on few postgraduate theses. Rousidou (2016) says that the reasons for using aibrnb in Greece are low cost, personal contact, ease of booking even in times of high demand, and the fact that there are many available homes in areas where there are no hotels. Consumers recognize that airbnb is a low cost experience and value value for money, which is a serious asset of airbnb booking. A particular feature is cultural experience. A study made by Rupa (2017) was conducted on a sample of 435 participants and concerns attitudes and perceptions of the general population about airbnb. Research has shown that the public has positive attitudes but also a high degree of satisfaction from those who have used it. Finally, Gardelaki’s study (2017) states that incentives for consumers are mainly economic. The focus of the study by Garedelakis (2017) is in the institutional and fiscal framework with a focus on Law 4446/2016. Property owners and users seem unhappy, while on the other hand, tourism professionals and taxpayers seem to be happy. Their proposals are also different with the owners being in favor of the business and ensuring a good income, as their properties are already overpriced, while market professionals and taxpayers welcome the case of increased state intervention, which in a critical way only problems will create more recession. We should not forget that the issue is economic growth and wealth creation, not the extra burden of real estate. In relation to the international environment, although the studies are also limited, they allow us to have a first picture of the satisfaction of the public. The study by Priporas et al. (2017) was conducted on a sample of 202 airbnb users in Phuket. Research shows that there is a particularly high level of satisfaction, while inductive measurements show that there is a direct link between quality of service, satisfaction from staying in airbnb accommodation and loyalty. The survey also showed that when the owner of the property is of particular interest to his guests as well as an understanding of their needs, the level of satisfaction is also increased. The study by Bae et al. (2017) refers to the understanding of how to make the decision to book via airbnb and the effect of both pre-and post-trip experiences. The survey was conducted on a sample of 411 users from Korea, and findings show that the experiences of other users influence the decision to book via airbnb, while the trend is for users to share their experiences with other users after the completion of the detention. So the user experience is a critical factor in assessing services in the airbnb, while it should be noted that in the majority of the users they want to share their experiences on the internet. Finally, the research by Hamari et al. (2016) studies the incentives for consumer participation in the sharing economy. We must emphasize that incentives can be divided into three categories. The first is sustainability, which is the fact that a reservation on platforms like airbnb does not burden the environmental footprint, nor does it disturb the social fabric as it is with large hotel units. The second category is the enjoyment of activity. In most cases, these covers are part of the city’s web and allow the visitor to see its true image. Finally, the third category is financial incentives and especially the low cost of living.

5 Discussion—The Consumers’ Behavior and Attitudes Towards Airbnb

The emergence of multi—faceted technology platforms collectively known as “Sharing economy” has allowed individuals to jointly use stock deployments through shared wage sharing. The consumers have enthusiastically adopted the services offered by Airbnb, Uber, Lyft and TaskRabbit. The rapid development of peer-to-peer platforms has helped their ability to specialize in offering virtually no friction, as well as the rich choice of products and services they offer. For example, Airbnb, a travel agent provider and pioneer in the joint economy, has served more than 30 million visitors since it was established in 2008. Although Airbnb remains private, its valuation exceeds $10 billion today, established world-class hotel chains such as the Hyatt. However, incumbents, despite the fact that they face higher marginal costs and offer less personalized products than peer-to-peer platforms, have downplayed competition from platforms such as Airbnb (Forno and Garibaldi 2015;). It is estimated that hotels are losing about $450 million annually to AirBnb. From September 2014 to August 2015, 480,000 nights stayed in hotel rooms, while more than 2.8 million nights were booked on Airbnb. By 2018, it is estimated that Airbnb’s overnight stays will reach 5 million a year. It is clear that the rental of holiday rooms and homes has reduced the demand for traditional hotel rooms. In addition, many hotel employees are losing their jobs due to these declining demands. Airbnbs have less labor force than hotels because they do not need the same level of service. Over 2800 jobs are directly lost to Airbnb, a loss of over $200 million in income for hotel employees (Feldman and Chuang, 2005). Less demand for hotel rooms adds an extra negative effect to hotels and their employees. When guests choose not to stay in a hotel, the money they spend on food and drinks in the hotel’s restaurant and bar is likely to be spent elsewhere. As a result, the hotel loses the revenue it would have received differently from it. In total, more than $108 million in food and beverage revenues ($88 million for food and $20 million for drinks) are lost because travelers choose to book with Airbnb (Forno and Garibaldi 2015). The issue is not only about food and drinks that are lost when you look once again at the other services and the incidental income that can be used by the visitor while staying in a hotel, i.e. SPA, business center, late check out, last minute cancellation fees, event fees, luggage transfers, all these services and many more are likely to be spent elsewhere or saved because they are not spending because the host will not offer such services, it is unnecessary to undergo lost revenues (Dubois et al. 2014; Katsoni 2017). From the research made, it is understood that the consumers who are using airbnb in Greece indicate that they have a high level of satisfaction. An important aspect is that motives for using airbnb in Greece and elsewhere seem to differ from hotels and other facilities. For example, in airbnb consumers are mostly going behind the experience of interacting with the society (intercultural interaction) while the personal touch with the host is a key motive. This means provides us a glance for a future empirical research by focusing on those differences. Probably, a combination of a qualitative and a quantitative research would help us a lot to understand what are the differences on the buyer’s behaviour between the traditional tourist and those who are using airbnb.