The sharing economy claims for research on its particularities and implications for management. This paper explores the way hosts of Peer-to-Peer Accommodation (P2P) develop relationship marketing with their guests and how it influences the business. The researchers conducted 30 semi-structured interviews to hosts of Airbnb, in order to obtain their perspective on the importance and application of relationship marketing in this context. Hosts with a B2C and a C2C business perspective were interviewed, and cultural differences in the relationship approach were also considered. The results show that the hosts are aware of the importance of interactions and personal contact with guests. Different results were identified depending on the type of business, accommodation, the culture and nationality of guests. Findings show that relationship marketing is highly explored in P2P sharing accommodation, exploring the interactivity of digital platforms to deepen those relationships.

This study addresses the influence that the use of social media for posting travel-related content has on holiday destination choice. The study builds upon the Theory of Conspicuous Behavior and the Theory of Planned Behaviour and aims at understanding whether expected Social Return, referring to the amount of positive feedback that travel posts have on social media, is a determining factor of destination decisions. A model entailing E-Word of Mouth, Social Return, Attitudes, Subjective Norm, Perceived Control and Intention to Visit is proposed and tested with a survey of 177 respondents who had an Instagram account. Data was analyzed using Structured Equation Modelling. The results highlight that Instagram promotes social recognition attributed to e-tourists that share a travel experience considered charming and trendy. Such social recognition is tangibilized by the constructs of e-WOM and social return. The study finds that the intention to visit is impacted by e-WOM, Social Return and Subjective Norm. However, the impact of Attitudes and Perceived Behavioral Control on the Intention to Visit was not supported.