ANALYSIS ON THE PERCEPTION OF THE MANAGERS OF LODGING BUSINESSES TOWARD ONLINE SHORT-TERM RENTAL PLATFORMS

When connecting travelers and property owners directly, the online short-term rental platforms have become stronger over the past years and, as they represent a type of innovation in the tourism sector, they may affect traditional lodging businesses directly. The present article aimed at investigating, according to the perception of the managers of lodging businesses in five cities of the State of Rio de Janeiro, how this type of collaborative consumption affects the competitiveness in their businesses. The qualitative research, of exploratory nature, was performed by applying an electronic questionnaire. The results indicated two possible situations: the managers have limited knowledge of such themes and/or only part of what is reported in the literature was realized by them in their businesses. Taking into consideration how actual the approached theme is, the academic relevance of the present article stands out and it is expected that this article may contribute to a better understanding of the effects of such phenomena on the tourism sector