Like many travel sites, Airbnb allows you to browse reviews before booking to help inform your decision. While many of these reviews can be generic, some occasionally flag safety concerns with the accommodation or the surrounding area that could cause you to change your mind about where you stay.
A new study, published in the journal Marketing Science, sheds light on how these online safety reviews can influence visitors’ bookings and what can be done to counteract their concerns.
A look at the numbers
The study authors analysed 4.8 million Airbnb guest reviews that spanned listings in five major US cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City. They looked at data between 2015 and 2019.
In the study, they found two types of safety-related reviews. Some reviews (listing safety reviews) highlighted issues within a property, such as a broken lock or unsafe condition. The other types of reviews, vicinity safety reviews, expressed concerns about the surrounding neighbourhood.
Only 0.5 per cent of reviews flagged asafetyconcern, with nearly half of these highlighting those concerns about the vicinity, such as observing crime or other feelings of insecurity.
The study compared reviews with official crime statistics and found the reviews correlated with actual crime patterns in the cities.
Reviews shape guest behaviour
When a listing received any kind of safety review, the occupancy dropped anywhere from 1.5 to 2.4 per cent. The average nightly prices also declined by about 1.5 per cent. According to the study, travellers who personally experienced neighbourhood safety issues were 60 per cent less likely to book again on the platform.
“These numbers show that even rare safety reviews can shape guest behaviour, and underscore the importance of decisions by digital platforms regarding their review systems,” co-author Liad Wagman of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said in a press release.
The study authors highlight that while these safety reviews can be a “turnoff,” being transparent about the location–– by not removing neighbourhood safety reviews and providing more context about the area––can help users feel more comfortable with using the platform.
Airbnb under fire
Airbnb is no stranger to controversy. While the accommodations can be a more “homey” alternative to hotels, they can also negatively impact cities where affordable housing is already lacking. Earlier this year, Spain cracked down on more than 65,000 Airbnb rentals that were said to violate regulations. Other governments are said to follow suit.
The authors see safety reviews as another thing the platform must now reckon with.
“Our results suggest that Airbnb faces a dilemma,” said co-author Ginger Zhe Jin of the University of Maryland and the National Bureau of Economic Research in a press release.
“Removing neighbourhood safety reviews can improve short-term revenues but at the expense of guest welfare. Highlighting safety reviews benefits guests but lowers revenues, creating a tension between consumer protection and platform profits.”
Personal experience can also overrule reviews.
“Over time, consumers will learn from their own experience as well as word-of-mouth through other channels, even if the platform lacks transparency on safety reviews,” said Jin.
In an email to Euronews, a communications specialist from Airbnb stressed that the study only looks at a "narrow slice of Airbnb’s worldwide community," and that its findings do not reflect any of the significant updates they've made to the platform over the past six years, including upgrades to the review system, listing quality and reliability standards, and community safety measures.
"Airbnb does not remove reviews because they mention safety, whether relating to a listing or its surrounding area," they wrote. "Our platform is built on trust, and authentic peer-to-peer reviews are central to that. We invest in review integrity and safety innovation because transparency strengthens confidence in our community."
This article has been updated with a comment from Airbnb.
