I created a shiny app, including an interactive map and several graphs about the listings, boroughs and hosts in New York City based on the May 2017 datasets on "Inside Airbnb". After visualizing the distribution of listings and conducting simple statistical analysis, I found some interesting facts.
(1) More than 80% of Airbnb properties in New York City are outside the mid-Manhattan area especially in East Village and Nolita.
(2) Brooklyn is a great choice for cheaper cost per night and higher rating score. Therefore, if you are out of time and want to narrow down your options, Brooklyn can be put into your consideration.
(3) The price peaks are in May, June, August, and December. However, during the summer time, there is a dip in July.
(4) According to the previous booking price (from May 2015) and future listing price (to May 2018), we know that the overall price for Airbnb NYC drops. There are some reasons why. First of all, the New York State Senate passed new laws against short-term rental in 2016, which was a huge blow for Airbnb. On top of this regulation issue, the growth of competition can be another explanation for the price drop. Thirdly, there are more private rooms and shared rooms posted on Airbnb, which are much cheaper than entire apartments. The increase of private rooms and shared rooms contribute to a drop in price.
If you would like to know more about the workflow, concepts, and insights, please feel free to check out my blog post. http://blog.nycdatascience.com/student-works/nyc-airbnb-insights/