Marketing Case

Assignment: Airbnb – Have Text, Will Travel Case
Airbnb, founded in 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, is an online platform connecting owners
of homes, condos, apartments, villas, and even castles to prospective renters. The platform overturned
the hospitality industry in the half decade after its founding and has continued to gain traction in the
market since. This case poses the question, what (if anything) can Airbnb do with data drawn from its
website to assist its customers in increasing rental volumes and optimizing revenues at their locations?
In preparing this case, consider the following questions to frame your thinking:
1) What value proposition does Airbnb offer its customers?
2) What is the primary innovation Airbnb brought to its industry?
3) How does Airbnb make money?
4) What is Airbnb’s core asset?
5) What is Airbnb good at and what are the company’s capabilities?
6) How does data influence the different aspects of Airbnb’s business (e.g., customer value
proposition, processes, capabilities)?
7) How could you calculate the potential revenue of a property on Airbnb using the available data?
8) How does review sentiment affect a property’s potential to be rented on Airbnb?
9) What are the drivers of Airbnb property revenues in Miami, Florida, and Paris, France?
10) How would you optimize Airbnb property revenues in Miami and Paris? Are your strategies
different or the same in these cities?
Case write-up:
In your write-up for this case, please present your analysis of the situation and what you believe that they
should ultimately do. Your recommendations will be evaluated based on the strength of your arguments,
the soundness of your analytic approach, and your holistic assessment of the strategic marketing
situation.
All write-ups must adhere to the following guidelines or they will be marked down:
• Format is standard 8.5”x11” page size; 1” margins on all sides; 12-point font; double spaced.
• Do not use external sources of information. All you need for the case is provided within the
information in the case and your existing knowledge of marketing strategy and analytics.
• The actual write-up may not exceed 3 pages. You can use unlimited appendices to show
calculations and other supporting materials, but all appendices need to referenced from within
the text and may not be used for making additional arguments. Your write-up should be able to
stand on its own without the appendices.