Table 6.
Dependent, independent, and control variables
| Variable | Description & Notes |
|---|---|
| Dependent Variables: | |
| No. of reviews | No. of reviews since previous scrape |
| Independent Variables: | |
| NF emoji presence | Whether NF emoji is present in Airbnb listing title (0/1) |
| Complementary/Substitutive NF emoji presence | Whether NF emoji with complementary/substitutive function is present in Airbnb listing title (0/1) |
| Emoji number | Whether two or more NF emojis are used in complementary or substitutive function in Airbnb listing title (0/1) |
| Complementary/Substitutive emoji number | Whether two or more NF emojis are used in complementary/substitutive function in Airbnb listing title (0/1) |
| Superhost (Yes = 1) | Whether host is classified as an Airbnb “superhost” |
| Listing Title Characteristics | |
| Listing title word length | Length of Airbnb listing title |
| # Face Emojis | Number of face emojis used in Airbnb listing title |
| # Textual attention markers | Number of textual symbols (!, *, ~ , |,., ·, $, #, ^, + , %, &, @, (,), [,]) used in listing title to attract attention |
| Time-Variant Listing Features: | |
| Rating quality score | Average review quality score at the time of the scrape |
| Price ($) | Per-nightly price |
| Security deposit ($) | Security deposit (0 if missing) |
| Cleaning fee ($) | Cleaning Fee (0 if missing) |
| Instant-bookable (Yes = 1) | Whether the listing is available for “Instant Booking” |
| Number of amenities | Number of amenities provided by listing |
| Description word length | Number of words in other textual description (e.g., summary of the listing and space, host description, etc.) |
| Description topic category | Most probable topic discussed in listing description (categorical variable with 7 topic categories) |
| Accommodation capacity | Total number of guests accommodated in listing |
| Cancellation policy |
Flexible – full refund up to 24 h before check-in Moderate– full refund for cancellations within 5 days of check-in Strict—full refund for cancellations within 14 days of check-in |
| Exogenous Listing Features | |
| Time since last scrape | Number of days elapsed between current and previous scrape |
| Listing age | Time since first review for Airbnb listing (months) |
| Property type |
Entire place 0–1 bedroom – Studio or 1-bedroom entire place Entire place 2 + bedroom – Entire place with 2 + bedrooms Private room – Private room within a larger house/apartment |
| City | City of listing – New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago or Washington D.C |
| Neighborhood | Neighborhood of listing |
| Month | Month-year (Jan 2018 to Feb 2020) |
| Host Characteristics | |
| # Host verifications | No. of verifications for Airbnb host – include email, phone, reviews, Govt. ID, Facebook, Google |
| Professional host (Yes = 1) | If the host owns more than 1 property |
| Host experience (years) | Time since host became an Airbnb host (till date of scrape) |