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In the last years the tourist hospitality sector faced substantial changes due to the digital revolution carried on by platforms such as Airbnb. In almost a decade Airbnb consolidated its position as a principal channel in the short-term rental market. Over this period, it faced a series of internal changes regarding the composition of the hosts. Property managers, real estate firms, and tourism hospitality professionals used Airbnb as a preferential channel to their business establishing a professional offer within the platform. This dynamic highly disadvantaged smallest and non-professional hosts. This article analyzes the category of professional host highlighting how, even during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic (2020), they had maintained their leading position experiencing the best performances.

In this section, we reflect, both empirically and speculatively, on the perspectives for STRs and related digital platforms in the (post-)pandemic city, on the grounds of early signals of change in relation to spatial justice and institutional arrangements. The discussion is opened by Tulumello and Cocola-Gant, who, by investigating the case of Lisbon, Portugal, reflect on the flexible nature of platforms vis-à-vis the (neoliberal) cloud of de- and re-regulation in housing and rental markets, discussing how this intersection allows STRs to adapt and succeed, also during the pandemic. Similarly, Iacovone explores the professionalisation of platform-mediated STRs and their adaptability to increasingly more flexible and malleable requests from the market – dimensions that allow them to successfully outcompete smaller actors. Finally, Pettas and Dagkouli–Kyriakoglou, by focusing on the case of Athens, Greece, discuss the ways STRs could be transformed into housing infrastructure for remote workers in connection to the restructuring of the post-pandemic labour market.