A Study of Onefinestay’s guest experience in comparison to high-end hotels: Evidence from Onefinestay’s blog analysis.

Abstract

Purpose-This paper aims at providing insight of guest experience and satisfaction at HPA in comparison to ordinary peer-to-peer accommodation (OPA) and luxury hotel. Although many recent researches have been done in the OPA context, the majority is about Airbnb- the main player of this sector. No academic paper has been written about high-end peer-to-peer accommodation (HPA), which is evident to be an emerging trend in both the OPA and luxury hotel. This paper is the first one to explore guest experience of their staying at HPA. Onefinestay is the HPA chosen for this research. Design/methodology/approach – Two types of qualitative study has been adopted: content analysis and in-depth interviews were applied in this study. 100 blog reviews on Facebook, TripAdvisor and Trust Pilot were collected and input to Nvivo 11 for detailed analysis. Then, 10 in-depth interviews were carried out to support and expand the key themes identified in the blog findings. Findings –The study finds out that HPA guest behaviour and satisfaction drive are identical to what have been found in PA and luxury hotel’s literature. From the findings, HPA guests profile has been built and classified into four segments. Additionally, a comparative model of HPA, OPA and luxury hotel is constructed. Research limitations/implications- There are other HPA, this paper has only investigated in Onefinestay. An extended analysis to other HPA could enriched this research. Practical implications – Onefinestay should improve their reservation and service recovery process to ensure guest satisfaction. HPA can learn from Onefinestay’s good application of technology. Originality/value- This paper is the first one to investigate about HPA and its market providing a solid base for further research on this sector.