Do Airbnb’s “Superhosts” deserve the badge? An empirical study from China

Abstract

The “Superhost” badge is that Airbnb entitles the host provides good services. This study verifies Airbnb’s “Superhost” mechanism by applying text mining technologies, combined with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and K-Means, to the entire dataset of tourists’ online reviews of Hangzhou city, China. Six kinds of hosts’ good services are identified, including “Three Meals or Night Snacks,” “Fruits, Drinks or Snacks,” “Travel Guides,” “Free Shuttle or Helping with Luggage,” “Chats,” and “Replies or Communications.” The study reveals the minority of “Superhosts” are mentioned of providing the majority of six kinds of good services, which means “Superhosts” do deserve the badge.