This was the OPs response below when asked outright about the purpose and intent of the survey. She had every chance to mention the Smart Tourism Research Centre's partnership with Airbnb, but for reasons we're not privy to, chose not to reveal the direct links.
"Smart Tourism Research Center provide global trends regarding smart tourism such as sharing economy, AI adoption in hotel, etc
.
This survey is for the academic article. We would like to know the Airbnb host’s difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and how hosts feel about Airbnb’s response
There are a lot of academic researches on Airbnb guests, whereas not many studies on Airbnb hosts. This research tries to focus on and advocate the right to Airbnb hosts. If you want to give your opinion, we will appreciate your participation but it’s absolutely fine if you don’t want to answer"