Go to Seattle, live in Airbnb

Go to Seattle, live in Airbnb

What's airbnb on earth? It's quit new to me. As an old man, I've already been immune to any fashion. However, airbnb seems different.

My big family spent whole 2018 Chinese New Year Holiday in Krabi, Thailand. As usual, it was sunny, on beach , except my family living together in a big house with butler service, a very different experience to living in hotel and resorts. Of course, we booked it on Airbnb.

I'm curious to Airbnb. Udacity gives me a chance to have a deep looking by exploring dataset of airbnb in Seattle, though I know less about the city, only heard the name because of Microsoft, Starbucks, and the famous movies, Sleepless in Seattle and Fifty Shades of Grey.

Maybe someday I would visit the grey city on site. For that reason, I'd like to figure out 3 questions:

1. How many property types of airbnb and their price were in Seattle?
2. When to visit Seattle is most economy for family tourists living in airbnb?
3. Is reviews helpful for choosing airbnb?

Q1: How many property types of airbnb and their price were in Seattle?

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Airbnbs in Seattle had 16 property types and 3 room types. Most of them were house and apartment offering entire home or private room. Nearly half of them located in the center area of Seattle, where were Capital hill 14.8%, Downtown 13.8%, Central Area 9.6%, and Queen Anne 7.7%.

The most expensive areas are at Magnolia, Downtown, Queen Anne and West Seattle along Elliott Bay. 64% properties of airbnb there were apartment with average price over $196 much more expensive than entire average price $148. The cheapest area were at inland where were Del ridge, Northgate, Beacon Hill and Lake City. In there, 67% type of properties were house.

Accommodates means at most how many person can live in. It's relevantly hard to find place for living at least 4 person. Only 20% airbnb in Seattle offered these services, and apparently, there were few types of properties for choosing including house, apartment, townhouse and condominium.

I believe most people visiting Seattle with purpose for business rather than vacation.

Q2: When to visit Seattle is most economy for family tourism living in airbnb?

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Price was increasing. Average price of airbnb in Seattle increased $16 from January to December. One explanation could be that airbnb was accepted by more and more lodgers.

There was seasonal effect. In summer, price waved up apparently. Look deep inside, not all types of property had seasonal price effect, but only apartment, boat, house and townhouse. Price increasing may be cause of more bookings. Fully booked rate raised on that periods.

The price also changes cyclical. Friday and Saturday nights were average $6 per night higher than the other weekdays.

If arranged itinerary properly, it's possible to have a economy tour by avoiding weekend and summer holiday.

Q3: Are reviews helpful for choosing airbnb?

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Reviews score for airbnb is combined by 6 independent parts. They were accuracy, cleanliness, check-in, communication, location and value. However, they didn't equally impact the results of the overall score. I set up 2 models to appraise the feature important and achieve similar conclusions. Value is the most important feature and the location is the least.

It's pretty sure that lodges were price sensitive. Rarely reviews were posted for the airbnbs whose price was greater than $ 200. That explains why the value score was so important to the overall score.

Since the average overall reviews scores was 94.5 and 95% reviews were greater than 80, it's difficult for us to read meaningful things from almost consistent positive information. However, there were still negative commitment remains. They often occurred at the airbnb which had lower number of reviews inferring fewer tenants and neglect of bussiness.

Therefore, review seems helpless for us to chose airbnb excepting that we should avoid the airbnb with negative comments.

Conclusion

1. There were 16 types of airbnb properties in Seattle. Most of them were house and apartment offering entire home or private room.
2. There were seasonal and weekend effect on price of airbnbs in Seattle. It's possible for planning an economy tour by proper arrangement.
3. Review seems helpless for us to chose airbnb excepting that we should avoid the airbnb with negative comments.