Experiencing Hospitality: Phenomenological study of peer-to-peer hosting in Finnish Lapland

Abstract

Living like a local -experiences refer to activities where the local life is harnessed as tourism experience. The breakthrough of sharing economy and the development of technology have created opportunities to easily share various services and goods through the online platforms. The Finnish start-up company Doerz offers a technology-utilizing platform through which locals can share their daily lives as tourism experiences with tourists. The general goal of this research is to find out how the service providers experience hospitality in peer-to-peer experiences. Therefore, I chose to explore the phenomenon empirically with the example of Doerz service platform.

Theoretical framework of the research is based on hospitality and the host-guest relationship as well as ethics in hospitality. The research looks at living like a local - experiences from a host perspective and uses a phenomenological research strategy to form an understanding of hosting in peer-to-peer experiences through the host’s lens.

The research topic is the hosts' experience of hosting in peer-to-peer experiences and the main research question is: How hosts are experiencing hospitality in peer-to-peer experiences? The sub-questions of this research are: What does the hospitality experience consist of? Which dimensions of sharing become evident in the hosting experience? How are ethics reflected in the hosting experience?

The research was conducted qualitatively. The material of the research consisted of six (6) thematic interviews with the experience providers in Rovaniemi area as well as mapping of Doerz platform. The analysis of the data took place with the data-driven content analysis in which was utilized the theory of the hermeneutic phenomenology.

The results of the study showed that the hosts recognize hospitality as a continuum which is present throughout the peer-to-peer experience. Experiencing hospitality in hosting, and the ethical issues associated with it, are interpreted under three themes: a hospitable environment, an authentic experience, and being with a guest. The research results can be used in the development of sustainable local experiences in tourism.