Vrbo

D. Wyman, Chris Mothorpe, B. McLeod

ABSTRACT The contemporary phenomenon of Airbnb, VRBO and peer-to-peer home sharing markets has generated considerable controversy regarding positive and negative community impacts. Our study examines the economic motives and costs of short-term rental properties. Using home sales data from the City of Isle of Palms, SC, we find short-term rental properties sell at a price premium relative to long-term rentals and owner-occupied properties providing confirmatory evidence for why residential property owners select into short-term residential property operation. We also find no pricing impact associated with proximity to short-term rental properties indicating homebuyers are not concerned with the perceived community nuisances. The positive economic return accruing to short-term rental properties suggests the short-term rental marketplace will continue to develop as a strategic competitor to traditional tourist lodging operators.

Joanna Kowalczyk-Anioł, Karolina Kacprzak, E. Szafrańska

The article presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban tourism activity on short-term rental (STR) platforms in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It offers empirical evidence of how Airbnb and HomeAway (Vrbo) changed in Polish cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study of Polish cities was also used to investigate what pandemic-induced scenarios of that impact are presented in the literature. In particular, the study identifies “loser” cities, in which the pandemic consolidated and deepened the decline in active STR volume, and “winner” cities, in which the volume and dynamics of the active STRs increased during the pandemic.

Matt Meister, Nicholas Reinholtz

Platforms present various certifications to signal the quality of their offerings to prospective consumers. For example, Airbnb.com designates some hosts as “Superhosts” to distinguish properties that provide superior experiences. Platforms also present user-generated ratings—typically elicited and presented as “star ratings”—from their customers for the same purpose. This research investigates the interaction of these signals of quality and suggests a potential downside to platform-provided certifications: They decrease subsequent ratings. In an analysis of over 1,500,000 ratings from Airbnb.com and three follow-up studies, we find that properties with the superhost designation receive lower ratings. We assess the robustness of this result in several ways, including comparing ratings on Airbnb with those for the same property of Vrbo. In three follow-up experiments, we find that the net effect of certifications can lead to reduced choice share: The positive effect of signaling quality is more than offset by the negative effect of reduced ratings. This suggests that consumers are not sufficiently aware of this effect of quality certifications on ratings when choosing.

Alexander Theophilus, J. Ulrich‐Schad

I. Dakskobler

In the alpine belt of the Julian Alps (Mts. Kukova Spica, Triglav, Pihavec, Razor, Jalovec, Mangart and Lopa) we conducted a phytosociological analysis of swards on ledges, ridges and rock faces with dominant Salix serpillifolia . These sites are typically relatively moist and the snow cover there is usually very persistent, despite their location on or just below ridges. In terms of species composition the studied community is transitional between snow-bed communities of the order Arabidetalia caeruleae and communities of windward ridges from the alliance Oxytropido-Elynion that we classify into the class Elyno-Seslerietea. Based on the analysis of proportions of diagnostic species we classify the studied community into the alliance Oxytropido-Elynion and into the new eastern-Alpine association Gentiano pumilae-Salicetum serpillifoliae . In the article we also provide a slightly modified phytosociological table of another alpine community in the Julian Alps, Crepido terglouensis-Potentilletum nitidae .  Key words : alpine swards, phytosociology, synsystematics, Salix serpillifolia , Oxytropido-Elynion , Crepido terglouensis-Potentilletum nitidae, Julian Alps, Slovenia, Italy V alpinskem pasu Julijskih Alp (Kukova spica, Triglav, Pihavec, Razor, Jalovec, Mangart in Lopa) smo fitocenolosko preucili združbo blazinastih trat na policah, grebenih in v ostenjih, kjer prevladuje vrsta Salix serpillifolia . Znacilnost teh rastisc je, da so razmeroma vlažna in se na njih kljub legi na grebenih ali tik pod njimi navadno precej dolgo zadržuje snežna odeja. Po vrstni sestavi je preucena združba prehodna med združbami snežnih dolinic iz reda Arabidetalia caeruleae in združbami vetrovnih grebenov iz zveze Oxytropido-Elynion , pri cemer to zvezo uvrscamo v razred Elyno-Seslerietea. Preuceno združbo na podlagi analize deležev diagnosticnih vrst uvrscamo v zvezo Oxytropido-Elynion in v novo vzhodnoalpsko asociacijo Gentiano pumilae-Salicetum serpillifoliae . V clanku objavljamo tudi nekoliko popravljeno fitocenolosko tabelo se ene alpinske združbe Julijskih Alp, Crepido terglouensis-Potentilletum nitidae .  Kljucne besede : alpinska trata, fitocenologija, sinsistematika, Salix serpillifolia , Oxytropido-Elynion , Crepido terglouensis-Potentilletum nitidae, Julijske Alpe, Slovenija, Italija