Overview
Airbnb has become the largest lodging company and brand all over the world. Airbnb has persistently made effort to lessen the safety issues and fears related to residing with a stranger. For instance, they have by established a 24-hour telephone hotline. Despite Airbnb’s claims that it controls standards, and that it does not allow hosts who are daunting or irresponsible or hosts who offer a low-quality condition of the accommodations, break commitments, or receive low ratings to contribute in Airbnb community, unpleasant experiences still occur.
Note: This research project was conducted independently and was not commissioned or sponsored by the Airbnb company.
Impact
By 2017, Airbnb had grown to 4 million listings across 191+ countries and more than 200 million guest arrivals. Yet safety protections across its rapidly expanding inventory were far from consistent.
A safety incident does not end when the stay ends. For Airbnb, it can change a guest’s relationship with the platform long afterward—making future bookings feel riskier, adding friction to every subsequent stay, and potentially driving customers away altogether. For a business whose growth depends on people repeatedly trusting unfamiliar hosts and homes, that creates a serious retention and reputation risk. Understanding the lasting effects of a safety failure was therefore critical to protecting customer confidence, retention, and the trust at the core of Airbnb’s business model.
Approach
Sample Questions
Q1: What Airbnb rental safety and security attributes are sought by travelers when browsing Airbnb homes online?
Q2: What measures travelers practice to ensure their safety and security when on property?
Q3: What are the Airbnb rentals’ safety and security issues?
Team
Number of team members: 2
My role: Principal Researcher
Methodology
Research Approach: Qualitative
Research Method: 1:1 interview
Data Collection
Instrument: Semi structured interview guide
Main study: 21 Airbnb participants who have encountered safety or security issues within the past 12 months of their stay at an Airbnb property.
Data Analysis
Thematic Analysis
Key Insights
Key Insights
Prior to booking, there are three factors that customer pay attention to:
1- Neighborhood: Based on the interviews, the signs of a good neighborhood are as follows: proximity to hotels, proximity to residential areas, people walking on the street. On the other hand, the signs of a bad neighborhood are homeless people, heavy presence of cops, proximity to pawn shop, proximity to motels, garbage on the side of the street, dark streets, and window bars.
*The guests mentioned that they find out about these features via google map and other online sources.
2- Host: Based on the interviews, reviews about the host, host description, host picture, and host response to guest inquiry are the most important factors when booking an Airbnb home.
3- Guest: Based on the interviews, guests’ physical features and the number of guests play an important role when deciding on an Airbnb place.
There are certain things that customers who have experienced safety and security issues look for when on property:
Door locks, Windows, Fire alarm, Hidden camera
Airbnb homes have two main safety issues:
Host: Based on the interviews, illegal rental (no ownership), unmentioned animals, fake host picture, mentally unstable host, druggy/drunk host are the most important safety issues.
Property: Based on interviews, bed bugs, electrical hazard, old home picture, chemical odor, deceptive picture angle, Nest cam, wrong home description, steep stairs with no banister, cockroaches and spiders, dirty fridge, dirty sheets, dirty bathroom, unannounced strangers, and lack of smoke detector are the most important safety issues.
Recommendations
Provide a detailed host guideline as to what standards hosts are expected to live up to in order to ensure guests’ safety.
Conduct a comprehensive background check on hosts to ensure they have no criminal history.
Provide customers with a manual on neighborhood factors and statistics that discusses the location, distance to attractions, and safety of the neighborhoods.
Airbnb currently has a program named Airbnb plus where listed Airbnb plus homes will be visited with a third-party inspector on a continuous basis to ensure that the listings to meet the Program’s qualifications. We recommend that Airbnb conducts an annual inspection for all homes no matter if they are Airbnb plus or not.