Sentiment Analysis of Airbnb: Customer Experience and Marketing

This report presents a sentiment analysis of Airbnb, examining customer experiences and identifying key marketing challenges and opportunities. The analysis explores both positive and negative feedback from online reviews and comments, revealing customer satisfaction levels, common issues such as refund problems, communication failures, and safety concerns. The report delves into the impact of these issues on customer relationship management and the overall value proposition of Airbnb's services. It discusses the limitations of current digital marketing strategies and the importance of addressing customer needs for cleanliness, safety, and cultural sensitivity. The report concludes with recommendations for improving customer experience, including enhanced customer support, improved digital platform management, and strategic investments in technology to enhance customer engagement and loyalty. The analysis highlights the need for Airbnb to understand and respond to evolving customer behaviors in the digital age.

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Sentiment analysis results......................................................................................................................1
Finding and Discussion.........................................................................................................................4
Benefits of sentimental analysis and increasing digitalisation...........................................................6
Limitations of utilising sentimental analysis......................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX.........................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Today’s business has become highly competitive and in such a highly competitive market
understanding customers and their behaviour is highly essential. Most of the companies these
days are doing sentimental analysis. This is helpful for making strategies that can attract
maximum possible consumers. This is essential for creating value for the customers and
identifying customer experience. Customer experience management is a crucial part for
achieving success in the market. Providing higher customer value proposition is the major
aim of all the companies in different industries (Camilleri and Neuhofer, 2017). Value
proposition focus is when a company focuses on the sum total of advantages that any
company promises to their consumers against the payment made by them. Companies need to
understand the value of identifying the consumers experience and it is the only thing that can
attract consumers to again make purchase. Experience of customers is improved by the
matching the expectation of consumers with their experiences. Airbnb Inc. a multinational
firm from San Francisco, America and deals in the business of online marketplace and
hospitality service. They are operating in the industry that is highly dependent on the
customer experience. Their services are accessible through their mobile apps and their
website. This report will illustrate the sentimental analysis of Airbnb and the same time it
shows the way in which these marketing issues can be resolved so as to gain competitive
advantage.
Sentiment analysis results
Customer experience management is very essential in the modern day business and hence it is
beneficial for Airbnb to do sentiment analysis in different areas. There are both positive and
negative issues that are confronting the customer experience management.
First thing that needs to be considered while analysing the customer experience management
is that proper grounded information is available with the company. In the lack of access of
information neither company will be able to find the positives nor do negatives about the
customer’s experience (von Hoffen, et al. 2017).
It is seen that company faces problems in managing customer experience, this is because
today’s consumers want to buy from multiple channels or they feel that they must have an
option of purchasing from multi-channel sites. For Airbnb, customer experience is very much

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essential but they lag in the fact that they offer services only through online mediums (Chang
and Wang, 2018).
Airbnb has to provide personalised experience so as to improve the customer’s experience.
This is because clients these days demand for unique kind of experience that satisfies their
personal need. Since this company does not have any of their establishments hence providing
personalised experience is a challenge for them. Personalised experience must be provided at
every step of the customer’s journey.
Another major issue that Airbnb faces in customer experience management is that it is
difficult to measure customer experience improvement. This is also difficult in the case of
Airbnb also as there is less numbers of indicators available that exactly shows the
improvement in the customer experience.
In customer experience management lack of proper communication model is also an issue.
Every communication model is different and suits a very different set of business. Analysing
and finding the best set of communication channel is an issue for the company. Use of
communication channel also depends on the consumer behaviour as the type of
communication channel they prefer, plays a greater role in communication management
(Zervas, Proserpio and Byers, 2017).
Unlike other fields there is lesser amount of investments being done by the company in their
customer experience. Leaders have been slow in investing in the technologies and other fields
that may improve the customer’s experience. Airbnb also has to invest in the technological
advancements that are capable of improving the customer experience.
Most of the companies also face issues in relationship marketing i.e. providing long term
customer value that can improve the chances of sales. Choosing the best option for increasing
the customer relationship marketing is essential in the modern day context. In the era where
customer loyalty is at the lowest, it is crucial for the organisation to improve the ways in
which they improve their relationship with the consumers. There are people from different
sections of the society and making good relationship with each one of them is difficult
(Cheng and Jin, 2019). A long term plan is required by the company in this regards.
Another issue that company faces in the experience management is the cultural barriers.
Since in the tourism industry people belong to different parts of the world and they come
from very different kind of cultural background. In such an environment, it is crucial for the

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company to improve the way in which employees of the company behaves. People from
different cultural backgrounds desires for different kind of services and hence they must be
fulfilled so as to gain competitive advantage (Ke, 2017).
In the customer experience management especially in the case of Airbnb, there is an issue of
creating a value while keeping the prices at the lowest of levels as well as ensuring
sustainability.
Issues in digital customer journey:
Over evaluation of the fact that awareness is created appropriately is an issue in the modern
day business. Social media is often over-rated in the case of digital customer journey as there
is immense competition in the social media market.
It is also difficult for any organisation to improve the interest of the people in the business of
Airbnb. This can be increased with the help of higher customer engagement which has a
direct relation with experience that customers had.
It is also essential for a company to note the desire of the people has to be understood clearly.
This must be in terms of understanding the need of people while they avail the services of
Airbnb.
Along with this, action of the consumers should also be noted by the company so as to think
wisely about the way in company should progress with their marketing and sales. This is an
issue as general behaviours are hard to note down in digital marketing (Hagge, et al. 2017).
Only digital actions can be noted down.
Loyalty is another major aspect that is affecting the customer experience management and in
the digital era, this is on the lower side.
Word of mouth marketing is easier to be done on digital mediums hence advocacy also
becomes easier. In Airbnb service, people can easily advocate their services.
Based on the above analysis it is essential to analyse the comments given by the people on
the services of the firm. Analyses of these comments are essential for improving the customer
relationship management as well as in the customer relationship management. There are
several positive and negative comments being given by different clients Comments about
Airbnb are provided in a table in the Appendix section.

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Finding and Discussion
From analysing the comments in the sentimental analysis section many types of conclusions
are derived. There are both positive and negative comments about the services of the
company. On reviews the comments it can be seen that customers are seriously not happy
with the company. It is seen that customers are facing many kinds of problems related to
availing services (Lawani, et al. 2018). Analysis of the overall comments has been illustrated
in the graph below.
Overall analysis of the comments suggests that reviews have been of different forms. In this
only 13% of the comments is excellent, 4% of the comments suggest that company and its
services are great. There are around 3% of the people who suggests that company’s business
is average. There are around 6% of the people who states that company’s performance is
poor. But the majority of people around 75% state that they are highly dissatisfied with the
services being provided by the company (Trustpilot, 2019).
While reviewing the comments, in most of the comments it is seen that company is not able
to provide positive customer experience. People are highly unsatisfied with the fact that there
was no one for their assistance when they needed it. Company is also not able to provide the
same quality in their services what they promised in their pictures (Dann, et al. 2018). This
comes under the category of customer experience management. In the same category people
are also not happy about their improper refund policy as some of them did not received their
refunds and some of them did not get the refund that was promised to them. The irresponsible
behaviour from the side of the employees is the major reason for it. Company needs to take
responsibilities for any concerns that is faced by any customer which often is not the case.
It is found that customers are unhappy with the delays being created by the company in terms
of booking the services. Many of the customers are disgraced by the refund issues that are

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generated in the services. Company is also not able to give appropriate and timely
information to the customers. This usually reduces the value of the services being provided
by the company. This is because company is not managing their technology in an appropriate
manner that can help them in satisfying the needs of the consumers. Company should have a
24*7 customer support which can help the firm in increasing the trust between clients and the
firm. These small things have effect on the consumer minds as people feel that company
thinks about them. Improper use of digital platforms has reduced the chances of company to
excel in the market (Libert, Wind and Fenley, 2014).
Consumer behaviour is changing in terms of the fact that people demand for clean and safe
rooms but customers review shows that company has failed in delivering it. Some of the
comments also stated that company is not able to provide security to some of the ethnic
groups such as Jews. This is due to the fact that hosts did not like this ethnic group. It is also
seen that customers are unhappy with the way in which they have been treated by the hosts.
The company is just an intermediate between hosts and guests and hence they could do much
about such experience. Some of the customers also reported that their stuffs have been stolen
(Palos-Sanchez and Correia, 2018).
There are large numbers of people who states that the idea is good but the way in which they
are doing things is not properly planned. This can also be seen in terms of the fact that people
say that there is untimely cancellations done by the hosts. People spend lot of time in
planning the holidays but the cancellations are being done at the last moment, this frustrates
them. After that also company is not giving refunds on time. This frustrates people and
usually ruins the service quality (Dobronte, 2018).
Airbnb need to understand that their customers are highly frustrated with the way in which
they provide their services. This has decreased the value preposition of their overall business.
Company has been doing their marketing with the help of social media hence it acts an
essential medium to communicate with customers (Tode, 2018). This has also played a
greater role in the management of the customer relationship. If all these comments can be
gathered by the company on the social media platforms and they can work on it so as to make
their business model positive. Airbnb need to understand that safety has become important
parameters while people are moving from one place to another. Customer behaviour has also
changed in terms of people using digital marketing mediums as their primary way of doing
the purchase (Sanchez-Vazquez, Silva and Santos, 2017). Company will have to understand

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that when they are doing their business totally with the help of online technologies hence they
need to be highly aware about the technologies that are used within the organisation. People
want to take the feeling of home when they use then service of Airbnb but since it is not easy
to manage all the homes and the way in which they provide their services.
Benefits of sentimental analysis and increasing digitalisation
Sentimental analysis allows the company to frame their business process in a manner that is
widely demanded by the audience. Sentimental analysis allows the company to analyse the
things that are affecting the sentiments of the people. These sentiments are essential for
improving the way in which companies are able to deal with their customers. It helps the
company to understand the things that can add value to the business operations and the
overall product. This is also having a positive impact on the way in which company reads the
mind of the people so as to do the sale that supports their business model (Varma, et al.
2016). It also allows the company such Airbnb to provide the perfect search for the customers
so that their customer satisfaction to be on the higher side. It also helps a firm to increase the
effectiveness of marketing and hence increases the ROI of marketing. The platforms such as
social media allow a firm to manage the sentiments. This is done by managing the posts that
are done on the social media platform. The amount of interest that is shown by the customers
towards any kind of advertisements allows a firm to check the sentiments of the people and
this helps them in improving the way in which they are doing the business. In the comments
for Airbnb it can be easily seen that people are highly hurt when they do not get services as
per their demand. They feel frustrated when their last moments planning get ruined or their
stay at any place is not up the expectations. Sentimental analysis gives overall view of the
perception of the people about the company and their products. Sentiments of the people
changes from culture to culture and the type of business that is done by the Airbnb this
cultural differences plays a very essential role. By doing sentiment analysis company can
easily understand what is the cultural demand of the people (Chang, 2017).
Digital mode of business has allowed the firm to manage their business more easily and
efficiently. It also helps a firm in improving the standards of the company’s engagement
program with the customers (CARTER and DEAR, 2018). Increasing digitalisation allows
the company to do business in the larger area. It also allows the company to gain feedbacks at
larger speed and improve the performance of the company. Since Airbnb operates in multiple
countries in various parts of the world hence need good digital infrastructure so as to improve
their performance, at the same time manage operations at the worldwide level. Digitalisation

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allows the company to improve the ways in which they understand the actual demand of the
people. It also helps the companies to increase the chances of their sales as the products are
sold as per the consumer demands (Ju, et al. 2019). More options are shown to the people
with the help of online websites and app based services. Increasing digitalisation allows a
company to interact with the customers. This increases trust between the company and the
customers. As it can be seen through comments that people are unable to get proper response
from the side of the company hence Airbnb can use advanced communicational technologies
to increase the customer satisfaction.
Limitations of utilising sentimental analysis
This analysis does not show the trends upon which customers will move towards in future as
it mostly concentrates on current aspiration of the customers from the company. It also does
not give details about the things that can be done so as to improve the internal operations of
the company. Sometimes sentiments are over judged and it is seen that people do not carry
these sentiments for the longer time and hence it cannot be the basis of making important
strategies (Ge, Alonso Vazquez and Gretzel, 2018). This analysis is not based on any kind of
framework hence appropriateness of the analysis and the results obtained is always under the
questions. This analysis also does not provide the details of things that are changing the
sentiments of the people.
Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that sentimental analysis is important in the
modern day business. Digital technologies help the company to better understand the
sentiments of the people. The sentimental analysis based on the consumer comments is
showing that most of the people are supporting the innovative idea but they are highly
disgraced by the services being provided by the company. They have not been able to deliver
the value preposition at the time of service delivery. It is to be noted that this company has
potential to deliver the value preposition at the time of interaction. This can be easily done
with the use of advanced technologies especially the artificial intelligence communication
mediums.

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Recommendations
After doing the sentimental analysis of the Airbnb, there are several challenges that can be
identified. It is recommended that company should advance their infrastructure that supports
artificial intelligence. This will help the company to remove the challenges that occurs due to
human errors. It will also process the operations such as refunds smoothly and at faster rate. It
is also the future of the industry hence company will be ready for the future (Weismayer and
Pezenka, 2019). More early company will starts investing in these new technologies more is
the chance of their success. It is also recommended that company makes strict policies
against the hosts who cheats or charges extra from the clients. Last moments cancellations
should not be tolerated. It is also advised that research of the market must be done with the
help of technology as it is a faster and provides reach to large numbers of people in a very
short period of time. In the modern day marketing, research is very essential so as to gain
competitive advantage in the market. It is also recommended that company provides some
kind of basic trainings to the hosts so that they can treat the customers appropriately as this is
the major thing that drives customer satisfaction (Hajibaba and Dolnicar, 2018). It is also
essential that company makes a universal policy for refunds as clients most of the time gets
frustrated because they do not know whether they are going to get refund for their claims or
not and what is the amount that they are going to get in the form of refund.

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