During the meeting we looked at the issue of short-term rentals in large cities in the European Union.
Airbnb has created a significant incentive to invest in real estate to provide short-term accommodation in tourist cities. The rapid growth of Airbnb’s offerings has been accompanied by the growing professionalization of the platform. In his analysis, Kristóf Gyódiexamines the spatial patterns of Airbnb in Barcelona, Berlin and London, focusing on the differences between listings owned by non-professional and professional hosts.
Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis techniques, Kristóf found that listings belonging to professional hosts are more often concentrated in city centers and more dependent on the location of tourist attractions and hotels than non-professional listings. The results suggest that professional listings contribute more to Airbnb’s negative impact on local residents.
The main research questions that Kristóf Gyódi addressed in his study are:
- To what extent are the services provided by Airbnb part of the «sharing economy»?
- What are the similarities and differences in the characteristics of hotel services and Airbnb?
- What is the impact of location on Airbnb listing prices?
- How does the spatial concentration of hotels and flats rented through Airbnb differ?