Assignment | The Fantasy of Being Local

Running head: THE FANTASY OF BEING LOCAL
THE FANTASY OF BEING LOCAL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note:

THE FANTSAY OF BEING LOCAL1
Introduction
An Overview of Airbnb
Airbnb is an online market place that aims at connecting those people who want to rent
their homes to people who are searching for accommodation in their local area. Airbnb is
basically a privately held company and a lodging industry; it generally provides primary
homestay, lodging and tourism experience.
As per the current scenario, the current market capitalization is ranging between $53
billion ($180 per share) and $65 billion ($221 per share) which is based on a peer-based and
DCF-derived exit multiple approaches. It is believed that the Airbnb's initial public offering must
be on the radar screen for the investors who are seeking exposures to a company positioned to
gain share in the nearly $700 billion global online travel market that is estimated will grow to
9.4% annually on average over the next five years. Airbnb is widely used by many people and is
currently based in 191 countries in the worldwide and over 81,000 cities. The name of the
company is derived from "air mattress B&B."
Discussion
Airbnb is marked as one of the signature success "of the sharing economy" (Lee, 2016). It
is a young brand that has been positioned in the consumers' consciousness, and it possesses over
$30 billion of valuation. Airbnb has started rethinking on its entire mission and to better structure
and articulate all other elements that have made this platform so unique. According to Atkin-
who is an expert on the "relationship between consumers and brands and the author of The
Culting of Brands" interviewed over 480 guest, hosts and employees all over the world, Atkin

THE FANTSAY OF BEING LOCAL2
noted a statement from the interview conducted "the last thing they wanted to be is
tourists"( Lee, 2016). The guests are seeking authenticity; they wanted to engage with the people
of that particular area and aims to cherish their culture as well (Gutiérrez et al., 2017).
Authenticity is a term which has grown from a varied usage and various contexts. In
general, meaning, authenticity is associated with something that is true, genuine or real. In
tourism, this means the rural and natural experience of a place. Defining and understanding
authenticity can be quiet complex than it seems a person who perceives authenticity does not
mean the other person understand authenticity in the same way (McCarthy, 2016). The different
concept of authenticity in tourism experience has taken a quite good toll in the tourism industry
(Poston, 2016). There are three different types of authenticity; object-related authenticity,
activity-related authenticity and constructive authenticity. The object-related authenticity is the
term referred to the authenticity of originality. An authentic tourist experience equates to an
"epistemological experience that is cognition of authenticity of originals. The activity-related
authenticity is a type of authenticity which refers to a "potential existential state of being" that is
activated by the tourist activities. The authentic experience in tourism provokes this existential
state of being within the luminal process of tourism (Poston, 2016). On the other hand, the
constructive authenticity which refers to the authenticity which is projected towards the toured
objects by the tourists with reference to expectation, belief, imagery, preference and power. The
authenticity of toured factors is authentic experience in tourism, and these experiences are,
however, constitutive to one another. It can be said that the authenticity of the toured factors is a
symbolic authenticity.
As evident, researches have resulted in both the price and authenticity of the experience
is the most essential attributes in the choice of Airbnb. Airbnb is always coming with something