The impact of COVID-19 on AIRBNB prices

Abstract

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementNowadays, the main part of the population around the world uses online sites to find local homes for vacations or even more long-term stays. One of the most popular sites of short-term rental market is Airbnb. These rental markets have grown rapidly over the last decade which leads to the fast-growth of Airbnb (E. Holm, 2020). “How COVID-19 impacted Airbnb prices in Lisbon?” is the main question of this work. Throughout the study it will be possible to understand the effects of pricing strategies, price positioning and dynamic pricing, more precisely if COVID-19 affected Airbnb in a way that leads to changes in the trends of the prices per night in the various accommodation that Airbnb has in the chosen cities. To answer this question, was constructed a database with data extracted from the website InsideAirbnb. Our findings suggest that Berlin prices comparing to Lisbon have decreased 2.66% during this pandemic