Comparing Airbnb hosts’ and guests’ attitudes toward smart technology to support authenticity experiences

Purpose This study aims to examine how smart technology in peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation may support, disrupt or reconfigure authenticity-related experiences. Focusing on Airbnb stays as a tension-laden hospitality context, it investigates how hosts’ intentions and guest-side evaluators’ interpretations converge or diverge around localness, autonomy, social connection and feeling at home. Design/methodology/approach A two-phase codesign approach was used. The first phase involved co-creation with seven hosts, generating design concepts. The second phase invited seven design-literate participants with Airbnb experience to evaluate these concepts from a guest-side perspective. This design captured how host intentions were interpreted by guest-side evaluators. Findings Smart technology offers substantial opportunities, including subtle communication, immersive ambience and support for exploration. However, these are balanced by significant challenges, particularly privacy and security concerns, the risk of over-interaction and conflicts with guest autonomy. Overall, the findings suggest that the same technological intervention may be received as supportive or intrusive depending on whether it aligns with guests’ expectations regarding privacy, control and connection. Practical implications The study offers practical guidance for hospitality practitioners, designers and hosts on how to integrate smart technology in ways that remain subtle, optional and respectful of privacy, autonomy and domestic comfort. Originality/value The study contributes by conceptualizing smart technology in P2P accommodation as a relational mediator rather than a neutral efficiency tool. It suggests that authenticity-related experiences are shaped less by technology itself than by how host-intended hospitality is interpreted by guests.