HOS651: Analyzing Airbnb's Challenges in Hurstbridge, Australia

This essay examines the challenges faced by Airbnb in Hurstbridge, a small town in Australia, focusing on issues related to regulation and promotion. The essay introduces the destination and provides a brief profile of Airbnb, highlighting its impact on local communities. It defines authenticity and commodification, discussing their application to Airbnb and their impact on the local area. The analysis reveals key challenges such as lack of regulation, operator awareness, and promotion strategies. The essay recommends that Airbnb collaborates with the council, follows regulations, implements safety measures, and provides training and marketing tools for operators. It also suggests that local stakeholders develop tourism by removing prohibited accommodation areas and training locals. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of authenticity and commodification in tourism and the need for Airbnb to address these challenges by working with the local government.

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The Challenges of Airbnb

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
Authenticity and commodification..............................................................................................................1
Key Challenges...........................................................................................................................................2
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................3
Reference....................................................................................................................................................4

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Introduction
Hurst bridge is a small town in Australia and comes in the area of local government in the Shire
of Nillumbik. It includes strong rural aspects because of the natural environment surroundings.
Airbnb is an online website that connects with the people who look for accommodation at a
particular place or who wants to rent out the place. It provides services in more than 191
countries across the world and founded in 2008 in San Francisco, US (Gammon, 2014). The key
challenges which are analyzed in the case include that the region was facing the issue that Airbnb
was not regulated in many operators and they had not informed the Council for their operations
in their area. Air BnB has not informed as in accommodation is prohibited in many areas because
of the crisis management and safety concerns. The challenge which is faced by the operator is of
promotion as they do not have any marketing tool for promoting the accommodations.
Authenticity and commodification
Authenticity includes connecting with real and genuine things. Authenticity is of three objective
types that are related to objects, constructive which are related to the objects meaning and
existential which is related to the activities. It includes creating the staged authenticity for
staging the local culture in order to create an impression on the target audience (Steylaerts and
Dubhghaill, 2012).
Commodification includes the process for evaluating the things and activities for exchanging the
values like goods and services. Commodification and tourism are related to each other as it
positively impacts on reinforcing the cultural practices and targeting the audience. The impact of
Air BnB on the destination is challenging for both the local government as well as Airbnb which
requires o adopt the cohesive approach. It is necessary to understand the laws for becoming the
host of Airbnb and the people in Hurstbridge do not understand the rules and they are not ready
to provide the services of Airbnb (Zhu, 2012). The responsible hosting is required in Australia
which includes the national taxes, local regulation, safety, insurance and information which are
required to be gathered for becoming the host of Airbnb.
Authenticity and commodification are applicable to Airbnb for providing the accommodation
and services which are promised. Authenticity is applicable in Airbnb experience as the local
communities are the major stakeholders in tourism. The experience of renting a peer-to-peer

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accommodation provides the tourist a closer contact with the destination as well as local life. It is
analyzed that authenticity plays a major role in experiencing local life and the satisfaction of
tourist. Local government requires the registration for operating the services and considering the
tourism (Knudsen and Waade, 2010).
Key Challenges
It is analysed in the case that Airbnb is not regulated and operators of the destination do not
understand the operation. It is affecting the destination by impacting the locals and the
environment. The trend of sharing the economy and flexibility is difficult to adopt in the
emerging trend. For the change in the tradition in Hurstbridge, Nillumbik, the government, as
well as management of Airbnb, are required to work together for coming on the conclusion and
providing the accommodation services to the tourist as it will help in the growth of the village in
Australia during the time of local Heritage trail (Knudsen and Waade, 2010). The operators will
also face the issue of promoting the business as they are not aware of the strategies for doing the
business. They do not know about the marketing tools for promoting the business with the help
of web sites or social media. It will be challenging for local residents to understand the situation.
It is required to the Airbnb to adopt the different sources for creating the brand-loving customers.
Airbnb includes a wide range of issues like property rights, the safety of public, affordable
housing as well as an economic stimulus. It results in creating new restrictions and penalties for
gaining control of the rental properties of the destination (Espinosa Abascal, et al., 2015).
Airbnb is operating the business without informing the council leads to breaking the rules and
regulations. It is necessary to make the operators understand the services which are required to
be provided (Cohen, 2014). The safety concern is the issue that is required to be considered as
the increase in tourists will lead to crisis management at the destination. Bushfires are the
concern in the area as it is a small village that may affect the natural environment.
Recommendations
In order to manage the issues in Hurstbridge, Airbnb can contact the council for taking
permission for regulating the services at the destination. It is required to inform the council for
the operation of accommodation at the destination. The rules and regulations are required to be

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followed by the Airbnb for dealing with the host of accommodation and tourist in providing the
services. The safety measures must be kept in mind for providing the accommodation services to
the tourists as well as hosts.
Effective services must be provided to the tourist during the time of events which will help in
attracting more tourists every year. The local council is responsible for providing and guiding the
locals to provide the accommodation at home which will help them in earning (Zhu, 2012).
In order to promote the services, the operators require training for promoting the business. The
marketing tools must be introduced for promoting the services to the locals as well as tourists.
The authorization of using the websites of Airbnb and promoting is through social media must be
given to the hosts (Abascal, et al., 2016). Local stakeholders are responsible for the development
of the tourism destination and it is recommended to them to attract the tourist by providing
effective services in accommodation. The different regions include the different culture, co-
operation and competition and in Hurstbridge it is required to increase tourism by removing the
prohibited areas for accommodating the houses to tourists. In order to promote the business, the
locals must be trained which will help in increasing the promotion and attracting the tourists
(Winter, 2009).
Conclusion
In order to conclude the discussion, it is analyzed that the Airbnb is operating in more than 131
countries. Authenticity and commodification are essential in tourism for attracting the tourist and
it is applicable to Airbnb for providing the services to customers as promised. It is required to
contact the local council of Hurstbridge for the operation of the business. The various issues are
analyzed in the case which impacts on the destinations. The recommendations are provided to
the stakeholders in the destination for managing the issues and improving the services of the
accommodation. Airbnb is required to deal with the government for running the business in the
destination.

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Reference
Abascal, T. E., Fluker, M., & Jiang, M. (2016). Domestic demand for Indigenous tourism in
Australia: Understanding intention to participate. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 24(8-
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Cohen, E. (2014). Recreational hunting: Ethics, experiences and commoditization. Tourism
Recreation Research, 39(1), 3-17.
Espinosa Abascal, T., Fluker, M., & Jiang, M. (2015). Domestic demand for Indigenous tourism
in Australia: Understanding motivations, barriers, and implications for future
development. Journal of Heritage tourism, 10(1), 1-20.
Gammon, S. J. (2014). Heroes as heritage: the commoditization of sporting
achievement. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 9(3), 246-256.
Knudsen, B. T., & Waade, A. M. (2010). Performative authenticity in tourism and spatial
experience: Rethinking the relations between travel, place and emotion. Re-investing
authenticity: Tourism, place and emotions, 1-19.
Steylaerts, V., & Dubhghaill, S. O. (2012). CouchSurfing and authenticity: Notes towards an
understanding of an emerging phenomenon. Hospitality & Society, 1(3), 261-278.
Winter, T. (2009). Asian tourism and the retreat of anglo-western centrism in tourism
theory. Current Issues in Tourism, 12(1), 21-31.
Zhu, Y. (2012). Performing heritage: Rethinking authenticity in tourism. Annals of Tourism
Research, 39(3), 1495-1513.