Airbnb offers a unique platform for homeowners to lease their homes or apartments for short-term lodging, making it a popular choice among travelers due to its convenience and range of options.
This analysis delves into the Airbnb Boston dataset, which encompasses a wide array of listings and their defining characteristics, such as property size, available amenities, neighborhood descriptions, and guest reviews.
To learn more about how I used the CRISP-DM method to structure the analysis, and the machine learning techniques I used (MinMax normalization, Ridge Regression, NaN imputing w/ regression, and NLP sentiment analysis), check out the project on GitHub.
Analysis Questions:
Q1. From a traveler’s perspective, does a “superhost” enhance the guest experience?
Q2. What features have the most influence on the success of an Airbnb listing from an investor’s standpoint?
Q3. What are the main reasons people leave bad reviews?
From a Traveler’s Perspective, Does a “Superhost” Enhance the Guest Experience?
In comparing superhosts to others, amenities stood out as key differences. Surprisingly, 47% of significant features were amenities. Most of the amenities that made the cut had to do with convenience and safety for short-term stays, like wifi, free parking, smoke detectors, essentials, and shampoo. Amenities like a fireplace, doorman, kitchen, and gym weren’t important. I guess people aren’t trying to stay fit on vacation lol.
When analyzing some of the significant features more closely, we saw a couple of insights.
Superhosts often get more and better reviews than other hosts, likely because they respond quickly and focus on safety, including verifying themselves and their guests on various platforms. And despite the high quality of superhosts’ properties, they don’t necessarily charge more.
To conclude, the answer to our first question is a clear yes! Booking with superhosts can give you a better stay without extra costs. That means they’re likely in higher demand, and you should book them earlier.
What Features Have the Most Influence on the Success of an Airbnb Listing from an Investor’s Standpoint?
By looking at the feature coefficients, we find that certain amenities like Air Conditioning and 24-hour check-ins positively affected an Airbnb unit’s appeal. On the other hand, doormans were surprisingly unfavorable. But maybe this was due to buildings with doormen tending to be in unfavorable downtown locations.
With friends that live in Boston and Cambridge, I can safely say the north side of the city by the airport isn’t where you want to spend your time. On the other hand, Coolidge Corner is a really quaint little place to stay. And Cambridge is a blast. The coefficients interestingly show that properties in the northwestern part are more desirable, hinted at by the positive relationships for longitude and latitude. This is even backed up by crime rates data for Boston, which show less crime occurs in the northwest.
So, for Q2, it’s better to skip the northwest areas when looking for places in Boston. Focus on downtown locations, which are more likely to have perks like Air conditioning. And avoid boat properties.
What Are the Main Reasons People Leave Bad Reviews?
The sentiment analysis reveals that while the majority of Airbnb guests (~90%) report positive experiences, there’s a significant opportunity to improve guest satisfaction by addressing the causes of negative reviews.
The presence of words like ‘bathroom’, ‘bed’, ‘kitchen’, and ‘floor’ in negative reviews, often associated with adjectives like ‘dirty’, points to cleanliness and maintenance as primary areas of concern. The frequent mention of ‘location’ in negative contexts suggests that guests’ expectations might not always align with the reality of the property’s surroundings.
Digging into the most common words overall, ‘clean’ stands out again, showing just how much guests value tidiness. Words like ‘comfortable’ and ‘easy’ pop up a lot as well, highlighting that guests really value convenience. And with ‘neighborhood’, ‘close’, and ‘walk’ being frequent mentions, it’s clear that a good spot to explore easily is key for guests.
So, by focusing on keeping places clean and comfy, as well as making sure guests know exactly what to expect from their stay’s location, hosts can likely improve their reviews.
Final Thoughts
This deep dive into the Boston Airbnb market has revealed key insights for travelers and hosts alike. Superhosts clearly enhance guest experiences by offering essential amenities and maintaining high standards of communication and safety, without necessarily charging more. For investors, the success of an Airbnb listing hinges on select amenities and location, with a preference for properties in safer, more desirable areas away from the northeast and south sides of the city. The analysis also underscores the importance of cleanliness, convenience, and accurate location descriptions in avoiding negative reviews. By addressing these critical areas, hosts can significantly improve guest satisfaction and bolster the appeal of their listings in the competitive Airbnb market.