How Can Airbnb Guests Live Like Locals if Hosts Are, Well, Corporations?

In addition to its regulatory woes, Airbnb confronts a vexing problem — what's the company's identity?

In contrast to its original raison d'être more than a decade ago of matching travelers and local hosts to enable guests to get to know a destination like an insider, these days the property host may more resemble an impersonal corporation than a neighborhood fixture.

The direction of Airbnb — particularly as it is now focusing on increasing its roster of traditional hotels — was confirmed Monday in a study by The Times of London(subscription) that found that securing a reservation with a host that's renting out just a single property on Airbnb is very hit and miss.