Accommodation selection criteria used by short term rental clients: an empirical approach to the Portuguese case

This study has two specific objectives: to typify the customers of short term accommodation rental; to analyse the association between the characteristics of these customers and their criteria when selecting the accommodation. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, addressed to short term rental users living in Portugal. A number of 1,000 valid answers were obtained. Results allow the identification of new characteristics of this type of customers, namely: the perception of their role in tourism destinations as tourists or rather as neighbours; the importance attributed to short term accommodation rental, in comparison to hotel accommodation; the frequency with which short-term accommodation customers' travel. As a main contribution, this study identifies the most relevant accommodation selection criteria for each customer's characteristic. This knowledge may allow short term rental managers to adapt the characteristics of their accommodation units namely in terms of price, pets' allowance, equipment and decoration, to the characteristics of the customers considered as the target segment of the business, thus enhancing customer attraction and retention.