Enabling people with impairments to use Airbnb

Highlights

• Attitudinal, physical and informational barriers limit accommodation options of tourists with impairments.

• We identify enabling strategies to overcome these barriers.

• The growth of peer-to-peer accommodation increases quantity and variability of spaces.

• Increased quantity and variability breaks down physical barriers.

• This changed environment shifts focus toward informational barriers.

Abstract

Paid peer-to-peer accommodation networks, including Airbnb, have been accused of excluding people with impairments. This study analyses host and guest posts on the Airbnb hosting community to (1) reveal key barriers preventing people with impairments from fully participating in peer-to-peer accommodation trading, and (2) identify solutions to overcoming these barriers, using as theoretical framework the social model of disability. The key conclusion is that we may be witnessing a fundamental shift in the nature of barriers: as the growing peer-to-peer accommodation sector increases the quantity and variability of accommodation options, the primary challenge is no longer a lack of suitable accommodation (physical barrier), but the identification of suitable accommodation (informational barrier). Informational barriers are potentially easier to overcome.