Our invitation to participate
Have you been working as an Airbnb host in Amsterdam or Barcelona in the last 3 years? Then we would like to invite you to participate in a study, which is carried out by researchers at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona (Spain). The purpose of the study is to learn more about how Airbnb’s hospitality standards and guidelines have impacted your work as a host since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether you have hosted often or only occasionally, whether you rent out a room or an entire accommodation, any hosting experience that you want to share with us is relevant!
You can sign up here or send an email to mroelofsen@uoc.edu for more information.
What does my participation entail?
The participation in this study includes an interview, which will be carried out by one of the researchers in our team. This interview will take place in-person (in Amsterdam or Barcelona) at a location most convenient for you or via video-conferencing software such as Skype, Zoom, GoogleMeets or Teams, whatever has your preference. The interview will last between 30 minutes and 1 hour, depending on your availability and input. During the interview we will ask questions about your experiences as a host during the last 3 years, using a question list. If you would like to add to these questions, we more than welcome your input. The interviews will be carried out anonymously, which means that any identifying information will be excluded from the interview unless you explicitly wish to be identified. Depending on your preference, the interview will be audio recorded or the interviewer will take written notes. Your data will be anonymized and protected in accordance with the Open University of Catalonia Code of Good Practice in Research and Innovation.
What will my participation contribute to?
The interview will help us better understand the impacts that digital platforms like Airbnb have on the practice of hospitality and how these platforms’ policies affect hosts who sometimes operate within challenging conditions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings should provide hosts and platform companies with important insights that can improve people’s conditions to host. The findings of this study will also inform the creation of evidence-based resources to support tourism-related policy making for governments and for tourism organizations involved in the promotion of tourism.