Face recognition of profile images on accommodation platforms

Visual information plays a critical role on peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation platforms. Recent studies have found that attractive hosts possess advantages in alluring potential guests and charging high prices, highlighting the beauty premium effect from the perspective of hosts. Are attractive guests more likely to receive better service from their hosts, thus producing a beauty premium effect from the perspective of guests? To answer this undocumented research question, we collect data from Airbnb accommodations listed in Los Angeles, New York City, and Orlando in the US. By virtue of deep learning techniques, face recognition, and text-mining, our empirical results reveal a beauty premium effect from the perspective of guests that attractive guests are more satisfied with their accommodations and receive more interactions from hosts. These findings illustrate the application of face recognition in the context of P2P accommodation platforms and provide direct implications for the operation of accommodation platforms.