Zhu, Hongrui ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8052-3888 and Yasami, Mehri (2021) A photo is worth a thousand words: Hosts upset by the new non-discrimination policy of moving beyond photos on Airbnb. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 35 (2). pp. 248-254.

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Abstract

In attempting to tackle the alleged digital discriminatory practices, Airbnb has established a series of non-discrimination policies, and the recent one was that guests’ photos will not be disclosed to hosts until they accept the booking requests from prospective guests. This new non-discrimination policy has sparked heated discussion among the hosts. This study sets out to explore the overlooked narratives of Airbnb hosts towards this recent non-discrimination policy. A total of 1,211 posts shared by numerous hosts were collected from the Airbnb community website. These posts were analyzed by undertaking a co-occurrence analysis to identify key concepts and the connections among these key concepts that revolved around the new non-discrimination policy. Nine key concepts, namely, home, safety, stranger, risk, hotel, third-party booking, trust, community, and discriminate, and their connections, were presented in a visual network generated via Gephi to show what concerned the hosts after Airbnb implementing this policy. This study also offers insights into why such a new policy that aimed at fighting against discrimination on Airbnb may put hosts at a disadvantaged position or vulnerable status. It also offers significant practical implications regarding the important roles played by photos on Airbnb.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.30892/gtg.35212-658
School/Department:	York Business School
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/9082

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