Fairbnb and the Urban Leisure and Tourism Lab Amsterdam are old friends. Since 2018, students, lecturer researchers and (associate) lecturers have been working with Fairbnb to make tourism a bit fairer. The same values and vision of tourism form the basis for important results.
About Fairbnb
Fairbnb is a platform where travellers can book accommodation owned by residents. The difference with other platforms of this kind is that Fairbnb is committed to a fair and – in all respects – sustainable course of action. Consideration has been given to the problems occuring with existing accommodation platforms. For example, Fairbnb is completely transparent with the local government about how they operate in terms of visitor numbers, paying tourist tax and complying with local regulations. The landlord, who must also be resident in the house to be rented out and is therefore also a city dweller, is also involved in the decision-making and developments of the platform. Fairbnb is a cooperative business, in which the users themselves can take a seat. The city benefits, too. A fixed percentage of the overnight price is invested in local projects that make the city more beautiful. And not least, of course, we work hard to make the guest experience as unique as possible.
At the time of writing, the platform is still in the beta version, but accommodations are already bookable in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Genova, Granada, Marseille, Porto, Valencia and Venice and many other dedstinations will follow.
Collaboration Fairbnb – ULT-lab
Fairbnb is one of the oldest partners of the Urban Leisure and Tourism Lab Amsterdam. Since 2018, both students and lecturer-researchers have been engaged in answering questions or solve problems. For example, student Joost Visser graduated with a marketing communication plan that allows Fairbnb to better reach potential hosts for offering accommodation. In 2019, teacher-researchers Miranda Kamp and Swen Waterreus investigated how the accommodation providers can contribute to make the visitor’s experience as authentic, responsible and intimate as possible. The result of this research was a Code of Conduct document with guidelines that hosts can adhere to to contribute to the authentic experience described above. Moreover, our collaboration with Fairbnb has contributed to the ULT-lab participating in a European Horizon 2020 research project. For more information about Smartdest, please visit this link.
From April 2021, the collaboration between the ULT-lab and Fairbnb enters a new phase. This time, a group of three graduation students from Tourism Management from the Rotterdam and Diemen locations will do design research with the aim of gaining ideas for and shaping new partnerships – perhaps even outside of Amsterdam, and to map the social impact of these partnerships in the city.
The ULT-lab feels closely connected to the concept of Fairbnb and we share the vision of shared ownership, transparency and social involvement while at the same time experiencing our beautiful city in a unique way. Through our collaboration, the ULT-lab hopes to generate impact and create value for Fairbnb and thus support its mission.
