CATONSVILLE, MD, Oct. 20, 2025 – A new peer-reviewed study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science sheds light on how online safety-related reviews from Airbnb guests influence booking decisions and how the platform itself balances consumer welfare against its own financial incentives. The research finds that reviews mentioning a property’s neighborhood safety issues, even though they represent only a small fraction of all reviews, reduce bookings, lower nightly prices, and influence whether travelers return to Airbnb at all. The major takeaway is that while detailed safety reviews of a property or its location can be a turn-off for some, the inherent transparency can be a mitigating factor.
The study, “Safety Reviews on Airbnb: An Information Tale,” was authored by Aron Culotta of Tulane University, Ginger Zhe Jin of the University of Maryland and the National Bureau of Economic Research, Yidan Sun of Binghamton University, and Liad Wagman of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The study authors analyzed 4.8 million Airbnb guest reviews from five major U.S. cities (Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City) between 2015 and 2019. They identified two types of safety-related reviews:
- Listing Safety Reviews (LSRs): Issues within a property, such as broken locks or unsafe conditions.
- Vicinity Safety Reviews (VSRs): Concerns about the surrounding neighborhood, such as crime or feelings of insecurity.
They found that only 0.5 percent of reviews flagged safety concerns, but they had a disproportionate impact. Nearly half of these were Vicinity Safety Reviews.
When a listing received a safety review, occupancy dropped by 1.5–2.4 percent, and average nightly prices declined by about 1.5 percent.
Not surprisingly, travelers who personally experienced neighborhood safety issues were 60 percent less likely to book again on Airbnb, showing that a person’s own experience had far more impact than simply reading other reviews.
The researchers combined Airbnb reviews with official crime statistics from the five cities to test whether VSRs reflected real neighborhood risks. Despite being subjective, the reviews correlated with actual crime patterns, particularly in low-income and minority neighborhoods.
“These numbers show that even rare safety reviews can shape guest behavior, and underscore the importance of decisions by digital platforms regarding their review systems,” said Wagman.
The findings highlight a misalignment between guest and platform interests. Guests benefit from transparency, but platforms may resist highlighting negative information that discourages bookings.
“Our results suggest that Airbnb faces a dilemma,” said Jin. “Removing neighborhood safety reviews can improve short-term revenues but at the expense of guest welfare. Highlighting safety reviews benefits guests but lowers revenues, creating a tension between consumer protection and platform profits.”
“In the long run, what can get lost is that consumer bookings generate self-experience. Over time, consumers will learn from their own experience as well as word-of-mouth through other channels, even if the platform lacks transparency on safety reviews,” Jin added.
“While limiting transparency may raise short-term revenues, it can undermine consumer trust,” said Wagman. “In the long run, business and reputation concerns may therefore help mitigate the tension between consumer protection and platform profits.”
About Marketing Science and INFORMS
Marketing Science is a premier peer-reviewed scholarly marketing journal focused on research using quantitative approaches to study all aspects of the interface between consumers and firms. It is published by INFORMS.
INFORMS is the world’s largest association for professionals and students in operations research, AI, analytics, data science and related disciplines, serving as a global authority in advancing cutting-edge practices and fostering an interdisciplinary community of innovation.
With a network of more than 12,000 members spanning academia, industry and government, INFORMS connects thought leaders, experts and emerging professionals who advance and apply AI, mathematics, analytics and other sciences and technologies to solve complex challenges and drive impactful decision-making.
Through its prestigious peer-reviewed journals, world-class conferences, industry-leading certification programs and a suite of professional resources, INFORMS empowers its community to enhance operational efficiency, elevate organizational performance and promote smarter decisions for a better world.
Discover more at www.informs.org
# # #


Media Contact
Jeff Cohen
Chief Strategy Officer
INFORMS
Catonsville, MD
[email protected]
443-757-3565