EXPRESS: Does Puffery Sell? Evidence from Airbnb

Abstract

Sellers frequently make positive but vague claims about product quality—a practice known as “puffery” that typically enjoys legal protection. This research examines whether puffery influences consumer behavior in the context of Airbnb listings. The study exploits within-listing changes to claims made in hosts’ brief property descriptions and estimates their effects using a hazard model of booking timing. Adding a single puffed claim increases bookings by about .7 days per year (.2% above baseline); an exclamation point adds roughly 1.0 days per year. Puffery’s impact is statistically similar to objective claims (.5 days per year), though objective claims often duplicate information available through search filters, reducing their marginal impact; less redundant, weakly subjective claims add roughly 1.0 days per year. The study also evaluates whether puffery backfires by disappointing consumers. Results indicate limited backlash: adding a puffed claim reduces numerical ratings and review sentiment by no more than .03 standard deviations. Together, these findings question the legal assumption that consumers sufficiently discount puffed claims, but remain consistent with puffery’s continued legal protection by showing it does not reduce average consumer-reported satisfaction.