VT Census Case Studies : AirBnB

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

Airbnb is a website for people to rent out lodging. Users of the site must register and create a personal online profile before using the site. Every property is associated with a host whose profile includes recommendations by other users, reviews by previous guests, as well as a response rating and private messaging system. Each host is associated with a set of attributes including a photo, a personal statement, their listings, guest reviews of their properties, and Airbnb-certified contact information. Similarly, each listing displays attributes including location, price, a brief textual description, photos, capacity, availability, check-in and check-out times, cleaning fees, and security deposits

Email has been sent to inquire about data access. No response received.

Link: https://www.airbnb.com

http://nerds.airbnb.com/data/

Date Inventory Completed: 6/9/2015

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

Airbnb was founded in 2008 to provide a way for people to rent their dwellings or individual rooms to travelers.

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

The data is collected to help with peer-to-peer marketplace.

  • Who else uses the data?

Consumers, travelers, researchers

  • Who do they sell the data to?

Not stated

 

Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Self-reported listings and reviews

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Digital

  • If designed, who created the questions?

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

User information and housing information


Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Housing for Rent

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

Not stated

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

Yes, continuously

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

Instantaneously


Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Those housing units where the owner/occupant has chosen to  list on the site. The site has over 1,000,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 190 countries.


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

Not stated.

  • Is it open data?

No

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

Terms of service --- https://www.airbnb.com/terms

One cannot “systematically retrieve data or other content from our Site, Application or Services to create or compile, directly or indirectly, in single or multiple downloads, a collection ,compilation, database, directory or the like, whether by manual methods, through the use of bots, crawlers, or spiders, or otherwise”

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

None stated

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? No

Explanation:

There is no information of coverage in the areas of interest. Data cannot be scraped. Additionally, data put on AirBnB is not confirmed or checked.