Le système Airbnb bordelais face à la crise du Covid-19 : gestion, adaptation et réinvention

Abstract

touristes et la perturbation de leur activité, jusqu’à envisager de se désinscrire définitivement de la plateforme. Dès lors, un certain nombre d’observateurs ont présenté le départ d’Airbnb de certains loueurs comme un désengagement nouveau, massif et irréversible. Or la réalité est plus complexe et surtout plus nuancée. Cet article, en s’appuyant sur une étude de l’évolution de l’offre Airbnb à Bordeaux depuis 2017, ainsi que sur des enquêtes qualitatives menées auprès d’hôtes locaux, s’applique à montrer une réalité de la location de courte durée sur le moyen terme en insistant sur l’incidence liée au Covid-19. The direct or indirect consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are emerging at all levels, including for multinationals criticized before the global health crisis. This is the case with Airbnb, which since March 2020 has had to deal with several major defections that have prompted it to adopt “exceptional” economic measures, but also to reconsider its economic and/ or sectoral diversification policies. Faced with this unprecedented situation, it is the entire system linked to the multinational that is upset, and in particular, the network of rental companies. They too have adopted multiple and differentiated strategies to compensate for the absence of tourists, and the disruption of their activity, until they consider permanently unsubscribing from the platform. Therefore, a number of observers have presented the departure of Airbnb from some rental companies as a new, massive and irreversible disengagement. However, the reality is more complex, and above all, more nuanced. This article, based on a study of the evolution of the Airbnb offer in Bordeaux since 2017, as well as on qualitative surveys carried out with local hosts, seeks to show the reality of short-term rentals, in the medium-term by emphasizing the incidence linked to Covid-19.