Balancing consistency and incongruence: Influences on consumer booking intentions in the sharing economy

Abstract

On peer-to-peer accommodation platforms like Airbnb, users rely heavily on both hosts' property descriptions and guest reviews to make booking decisions, yet it remains unclear how these two information sources interact to influence booking intentions. This research aims to fill this gap by examining how the alignment and variations between these two types of content influence booking intentions. Analysis of large-scale real-world data from Airbnb revealed that booking intentions increase when (1) hosts’ descriptions share more common themes with guest reviews, (2) these shared themes carry similar sentiment between hosts and guests, and (3) interestingly, some variations in how hosts and guests emphasise different themes can actually boost booking intentions, particularly for higher-priced properties. These findings help hosts craft more effective property descriptions and guide platforms in developing content strategies that better connect host offerings with guest expectations.