While studying hosts’ photos, researchers discovered a “trustworthiness” pecking order: women are deemed more trustworthy than men, older hosts over younger ones, smiling faces over neutral expressions, attractive hosts over unattractive ones. The photo is of me, and I do not have an AirBnB property. Sorry. 😉
Even the strange neighborhood where I live in Jaffa, Israel has random AirBNB renters. The easy-to-rent platform has taken over huge parts of Tel Aviv, so much that the city is proposing a 90-day-a-year limit on AirBNB rentals. Prices have skyrocketed and young people can no longer afford the rent. AirBNB or Craigslist or Facebook: it used to be something you could do when you went away for the summer. Now companies are buying up or renting out buildings and properties to service the AirBNB traveler. It’s common in the Middle East, making it easier to visit, Israel, Gaza or even to stay in a cave in Jordan.
So if you have a AirBnB rental, how do you make it more competitive? Airbnb rentals are chosen based on profile photos, new research from Hebrew University in Jerusalem has found.
Which host looks trustworthy? Who do I think will provide me a nice rental–one that closely resembles the photos they posted?
Professors Eyal Ert and Aliza Fleischer at Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Department of Environmental Economics and Management set out to answer these questions and published their findings in Psychology & Marketing. They analyzed 320 Airbnb listings in Stockholm, Sweden and gleaned two main criteria that determine “visual trustworthiness”:
One, is the host’s characteristics (gender, facial expression) and the second is the quality of the image itself (blurry or clear). “Our new study quantified the qualities that define the sort of attractiveness that online shoppers identify with trustworthiness,” explained Ert.
While studying hosts’ photos, Ert and Fleischer discovered a “trustworthiness” pecking order: women are deemed more trustworthy than men, older hosts over younger ones, smiling faces over neutral expressions, attractive hosts over unattractive ones.
As for image characteristics, the pair found that high-quality photographs did better than blurry ones, and photos that showed the host interacting with other people (“a multi-person photo”) did better than solo shots of the host. The thinking is that if a host is seen interacting with friends then it may signal their ability to maintain relationships, akin to a stamp of approval for reliability.
Better face, charge more
“Visual trustworthiness is king in the Airbnb arena. Hosts who are perceived as trustworthy enjoy higher prices and more frequent rentals than do hosts with less-trustworthy photos,” added Fleischer. Notably, race was not a factor in their analysis since 98 percent of the Swedish hosts were Caucasian.
Given the primacy of profile pictures in online commerce, it is interesting to note that Airbnb hosts are often unaware of these insights. While most smile in their photos (68%) the researchers would have expected to see more photographs of women, at least in those cases where the property is owned by people of both genders.
Word to the wise, shared Ert and Fleischer, a high-resolution, multi-person shot of an elderly female host who is smiling is more likely to attract Airbnb guests than will photos of young hosts, men or poor-quality shots where the host’s face is obstructed.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
