Pricing in peer-to-peer and two-sided digital marketplaces: Airbnb in Barcelona
Digital platforms are changing the way in which suppliers and consumers of accommodation services interact, deeply transforming the tourism market. In these peer-to-peer and twosided digital marketplaces, pricing strategies become crucial for value generation, yet in contrast to conventional digital marketplaces, prices are set by non-professional vendors who are also consumers.
Airbnb is the most successful case of sharing economy-based accommodation rental, providing a vast and diverse range of places for tourists to stay in. In this digital marketplace, final consumers compete with professional hosts, looking for new business opportunities. Previous studies on pricing have not made a distinction between both groups. Our investigation aims to reduce this gap by focusing just on peer-to-peer transactions. We use a large dataset covering accommodation listed by non-professional hosts in Barcelona.
The paper offers evidence that higher accommodation prices are best explained by consumers’ preference for the intrinsic functional qualities of the value proposition. The systematic interaction of value and volume of online reviews and pricing strategies of close players can also produce a crucial impact on pricing.
ODS
Josep Lladós-MasllorensDegree and doctorate in Economic and Business Sciences, associate professor in Economics and Business Studies at the UOC, head of the inter-university doctoral programme in Business Administration and Management, and researcher with research group DigiBiz. His area of knowledge is applied economics and his research activity primarily focuses on the fields of international economy, economic geography and processes of business innovation.
Antoni Meseguer-ArtolaAssociate Professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). He holds a Doctoral Degree in Economics and Business Sciences and a Master's Degree in Economic Analysis, both from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from the University of Barcelona (UB).
Formerly an Assistant Professor at the UAB, Professor Meseguer-Artola is currently an Associate Professor at the UB. At the UOC he held the roles of Director of the Bachelor's Degree in Work Sciences (2001-2006) and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences (2006-2010).
As a member of the IN3 research group ONE, he has authored a number of articles and conference papers on Price Competition, E-commerce and E-learning. Professor Meseguer-Artola has also authored teaching material on Mathematics and Statistics.
Inma Rodríguez-ArduraInma Rodríguez-Ardura holds a doctorate in Economic and Business Sciences from the University of Barcelona, and is an associate professor in Marketing of Economics and Business Studies at UOC and director of the research group DigiBiz (Digital Business Research Group). She has been visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, visiting professor at Babson College, Boston, and part-time lecturer at Miami Herbert Business School. Her research is in the fields of digital marketing, e-commerce and the immersive experiences of connected consumers.
