Methodological discussion of Airbnb's hedonic study

Sharing economy-based accommodations has grown dramatically worldwide. Given the crucial role of pricing, academics have used hedonic methods to estimate a large number implicit prices and accommodation characteristics. It is now time question our estimation methods. Based on methodological literature, this article outlines five proposals improve model performance: extended specification attributes, flexible functional forms, market segmentation, treatment spatial heterogeneities. Each proposal tested 13,991 Airbnb listings in Bordeaux, one world's top urban tourism destinations. Findings offer significant guidelines for future studies more relevant information players but also suggest that low performance specific segments not due technical problems.