Terminator or accelerator? Lessons from the peer-to-peer accommodation hosts in China in responses to COVID-19

Highlights

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  Three distinct types of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation hosts (speculator, diplomats, and entrepreneur) who decided differently after the COVID-19 were identified, and a dynamic loop of awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework to explore how they responses to the COVID-19 was developed.

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  The owner motivation (profit/sharing/entrepreneurial-driven) and specific capabilities for P2P accommodation are essential in facing the impact of the Covid-19, such as providing a unique value proposition and linkage with other hospitality experience. While the platform collaboration capability failed to support for survival during the pandemic.

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  The social-interaction-driven, as a motivation of hosts, is a necessary condition for offering P2P accommodation, but not a sufficient condition for a host to decide whether to operate.

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  After the COVID-19, entrepreneurs will to continue to innovate and become the main force of the P2P accommodation sector, diplomats’ operations will remain unchanged to share unused spaces, while speculators will quit hosting due to loss of confidence and competitive advantages.

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  COVID-19 is an accelerator of P2P industry that reserving the hosts who embrace the original features of the P2P accommodation sector, e.g. sharing and a focus on the experience, and eliminating the hosts who have diluted the uniqueness of the sector.

Abstract

This study investigates how peer-to-peer accommodation (P2PA) hosts in China have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. A multi-case study approach was adopted to depict the decision-making logic of three different types of hosts—speculators, diplomats, and entrepreneurs—based on an awareness-motivation-capability (AMC) framework under COVID-19. The findings highlight the role of owner motivation (profit/sharing/entrepreneurial-driven) and capabilities, such as having a unique value proposition and linkages with other hospitality experience, under COVID-19. Meanwhile, the platform collaboration capability failed to support survival during the pandemic. Moreover, the current study indicated that, after the COVID-19, entrepreneurs will continue to innovate, diplomats’ operations will remain unchanged and speculators will quit hosting. Hence, COVID-19 is an accelerator of P2P industry that reserving the hosts who embrace the original features of the P2PA sector, e.g. sharing and a focus on the experience, and eliminating the hosts who have diluted the uniqueness of the sector.