ORDER ARTICLE PERMISSIONS/REPRINTS/OFFPRINTS/TEACHING NOTES
To order permissions to include this article in textbooks, edited volumes, course booklets, online/digital course packs, etc., and/or to order multiple individual hard copies for classroom use, please contact the copyright owners, Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication. An inspection copy of the Teaching Note can be ordered by contacting the Publishing Editor at pneilson@neilsonjournals.com
Airbnb: Crisis Communication in the Sharing Economy
Matthew Beck, William Foster, Claire Kenney and James O’Rourke
University of Notre Dame, USA
Volume 9: 2016, pp. 27-42; ABSTRACT
On July 4, 2015, Jacob Lopez arrived in Madrid, Spain to meet his transgender Airbnb host. Upon arrival, Lopez followed his host to the apartment at which point she demanded that he perform a series of sexual acts. Lopez refused and she locked him in the room in which he would be staying and threatened him by cutting off the lines to the Internet and fumbling with kitchen knives. Lopez was later sexually assaulted before escaping. The growing sharing economy, characterized by peer-to-peer transactions, creates an exploratory environment for legalities surrounding traditional needs. This case study highlights Airbnb's attempt to remain competitive amidst uncertainty and examines the potential detrimental effects of the company's reactive approach.
