Analysis of the behavior of Airbnb in four different Spanish areas

Abstract

The appearance and rise of the Airbnb business has created a huge amount of debate and a new way (and a useful tool) to understand tourism. Being Spain highly dependent on this sector, by using the data provided by the website InsideAirbnb this essay tries to analyze the behavior of the business (and consequently, of tourism) in four Spanish areas that have different characteristics: Euskadi, Madrid, Málaga and Mallorca. Results suggest that the areas differ in the type of properties they offer, have similar peaks on tourism during certain months (except for Madrid), and that the prices depend on the size of the accommodation as well as on its location. It also shows that what customers value most is not the price, but the location, cleanliness and the value perceived.