Understanding U.S. travellers’ motives to choose Airbnb: a comparison of business and leisure travellers

ABSTRACT Airbnb has become popular. Although empirical research on the motives to use Airbnb has been conducted, the findings have been limited and mixed. Further, identifying motives for two major segments (i.e. business and leisure travellers) enables Airbnb hosts and organizers to develop effective and specific strategies for improvement and better targeting. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate travellers’ motives to choose Airbnb accommodations and further examine business and leisure travellers’ perceived importance and performance with respect to their motives to select Airbnb. Study 1 conducted an interview and identified 10 motives. Study 2 performed an importance-performance analysis (IPA) of the 10 motives among business versus leisure travellers, and differences were found across the two types of travellers. The results showed that price, location, and home-like environment were the primary reasons leisure travellers chose Airbnb, while location, price, and user-friendly interface were the key motives for business travellers.