A Decentralized Marketing Model for the Online Accommodation Rental Market

Abstract

This paper presents an infrastructure redesign of the online accommodation rental marketing model. The decentralized marketplace it proposes represents a significant Business Model Innovation (BMI) and a new normative marketing tool. We suggest it has the potential to be disruptive from an International Marketing (IM) perspective, shifting the focus from owners as agents, to a shared one with renters and agents. This is supportive of the paradigm where marketing is focused on facilitating and maintaining relationships. Using code that we developed, we illustrate how a decentralized application (dAirBnB) can promote disintermediation and can be built to optimize price discovery. Utilizing block chain technology, we show how trust originates from the distributed consensus enforced by a network of peers. This trusted interaction is facilitated between untrusted parties over the internet, thereby changing the marketing relationship. In this respect, the application and the business model are inextricably linked. Enabled by the technology, we propose a monetization of reputation, which introduces the concept of good behaviour as an asset in a marketing context. We explore the implications of this for both BMI and IM. Our approach would increase the quality and quantity of information in online rentals, both major dimensions of marketing advantage. The dominant position of AirBnB represents a limitation on the implementation of our approach and would be an area for policy makers to focus on.