The Future of Shared Economy: A Case Study on Airbnb

One of the most popular IT-facilitated peer-to-peer economic model driving the world, the sharing economy attained its importance in India of late and witnessed a sudden acceptance among people. This model emphasizes the sharing of underutilized goods or service capacity, without transferring the ownership, with the aid of an intermediary, which was widely accepted by the Indian market mainly because of high mobile penetration, high millennial concentration and its aspirational population. Though there are numerous examples of shared economy prevailing in India, this case is on the initiation, hiccups, acceptance, growth, and the pandemic led to sudden blow in the business of Airbnb, the bed and breakfast startup founded by Brian Chesky, Joe Gabberia and Nathan Blecharczyk. Though the young workforce, dominated by millennials and Gen Z generations, acted as a catalyst in the growth of Airbnb, the unanticipated pandemic catapulted the business of Airbnb, invalidating its business model. The business model that provided a handful of earning opportunities to both the hosts and the business is no more in existence. However, Airbnb adopted a series of measures to protect the rights of both parties. This case discusses the possible strategies Airbnb can adopt to get its business back to track in the post-pandemic days.