I agree. A lot of the trouble that Airbnb causes can be mitigated with simple regulations that we already have in place. Additionally, we should recognize that Airbnb is currently filling a void in the market that hotels aren’t currently filling. There are times when people want to rent a place to stay for a full week or a month and also not have to pay to eat out every night. Airbnb allows you to rent a place that’s generally cheaper for longer stays and also provides a basic kitchen including cookware and dishes. Hotels just don’t have that unless you pay a premium. The only other thing they offer, which I’m on the fence about, is the ability to rent a place in close proximity or directly in a specific neighborhood or town as opposed to whatever area has a hotel to host tourists. On the one hand, that’s super nice for exploring cities and doing non-touristy things. On the other hand, residents deserve some separation from tourists especially since they don’t all behave. If hotels can find a way to fill these gaps, then I’d be ok with banning Airbnb. But we can also just regulate Airbnb 🤷
I used to work away a lot, an airbnb was always a considered option - even when my meals were paid for. Sometimes you want to have a place to chill at for the week, not just a room.
Saying that though I generally didn’t use airbnb for this, booking.com often has holiday lets as well - or better yet go directly to the owner’s website.
Air BNB also exposed another aspect of the market as they can be so damn cheap, for a house to stay in! It’s clear there’s something scammy going on when the best option for me and my friends visiting New York was to rent an Air BNB loft for two weeks instead of a hotel.
I think the convenience and the swollen price tag of Airbnb offers particular issue. In my mind Airbnb exploits an issue with a lack of landlords not offering leases with full year of commitment requirements. Nobody is forcing a landlord to set a minimum year of occupancy, that’s just the culture we have. That additional markup for having a short term rental is what incentivizes the market to pledge houses towards people who want to travel on a budget.
When I was living in Japan it was fairly normal to find short term rentals that were basically just regular rentals. You weren’t charged hotel prices for them, they cost the same as every other rental just you basically gave them a ballpark for how long you intended to stay as a courtesy to them or gave your month’s moving notice as needed. If you wanted to just keep staying there as a regular renter that was normal too. There were even small businesses that served as convenient rental realtors who smoothed the process between owners and renter so you could set things up by phone or email to take the key and possession of the apartment.
Airbnb isn’t the only thing disruptive to the housing supply… It’s in part our entire culture of assuming a difference between short and long term renters and gouging short term renters because we assume that a low income person who is a short term leaser is going to ruin the places they live due to class prejudge. Long term lease requirements lock people living paycheck to paycheck down into situations that subject them to abusive landlords and the lack of flexibility means additional stress and impairment of freedom to move when something is desperately not working.
I feel like Japan would have an extremely different level of risk assessment - determining whether a temporary tenant is going to kick down the walls, smoke drugs, break a window, leave the place a mess, and have absolutely no credit to pay back for damages.
There is a different culture in regards to looking after shared property but it’s still not a full proof situation for them. But it’s not like those things don’t happen with Airbnb clientele, the resolution is just handled by their internal team instead of the landlord. You could very well still end up holding the bag for damages.
I agree. A lot of the trouble that Airbnb causes can be mitigated with simple regulations that we already have in place. Additionally, we should recognize that Airbnb is currently filling a void in the market that hotels aren’t currently filling. There are times when people want to rent a place to stay for a full week or a month and also not have to pay to eat out every night. Airbnb allows you to rent a place that’s generally cheaper for longer stays and also provides a basic kitchen including cookware and dishes. Hotels just don’t have that unless you pay a premium. The only other thing they offer, which I’m on the fence about, is the ability to rent a place in close proximity or directly in a specific neighborhood or town as opposed to whatever area has a hotel to host tourists. On the one hand, that’s super nice for exploring cities and doing non-touristy things. On the other hand, residents deserve some separation from tourists especially since they don’t all behave. If hotels can find a way to fill these gaps, then I’d be ok with banning Airbnb. But we can also just regulate Airbnb 🤷
I used to work away a lot, an airbnb was always a considered option - even when my meals were paid for. Sometimes you want to have a place to chill at for the week, not just a room.
Saying that though I generally didn’t use airbnb for this, booking.com often has holiday lets as well - or better yet go directly to the owner’s website.
Air BNB also exposed another aspect of the market as they can be so damn cheap, for a house to stay in! It’s clear there’s something scammy going on when the best option for me and my friends visiting New York was to rent an Air BNB loft for two weeks instead of a hotel.
I think the convenience and the swollen price tag of Airbnb offers particular issue. In my mind Airbnb exploits an issue with a lack of landlords not offering leases with full year of commitment requirements. Nobody is forcing a landlord to set a minimum year of occupancy, that’s just the culture we have. That additional markup for having a short term rental is what incentivizes the market to pledge houses towards people who want to travel on a budget.
When I was living in Japan it was fairly normal to find short term rentals that were basically just regular rentals. You weren’t charged hotel prices for them, they cost the same as every other rental just you basically gave them a ballpark for how long you intended to stay as a courtesy to them or gave your month’s moving notice as needed. If you wanted to just keep staying there as a regular renter that was normal too. There were even small businesses that served as convenient rental realtors who smoothed the process between owners and renter so you could set things up by phone or email to take the key and possession of the apartment.
Airbnb isn’t the only thing disruptive to the housing supply… It’s in part our entire culture of assuming a difference between short and long term renters and gouging short term renters because we assume that a low income person who is a short term leaser is going to ruin the places they live due to class prejudge. Long term lease requirements lock people living paycheck to paycheck down into situations that subject them to abusive landlords and the lack of flexibility means additional stress and impairment of freedom to move when something is desperately not working.
I feel like Japan would have an extremely different level of risk assessment - determining whether a temporary tenant is going to kick down the walls, smoke drugs, break a window, leave the place a mess, and have absolutely no credit to pay back for damages.
There is a different culture in regards to looking after shared property but it’s still not a full proof situation for them. But it’s not like those things don’t happen with Airbnb clientele, the resolution is just handled by their internal team instead of the landlord. You could very well still end up holding the bag for damages.
Most extendedstay hotel locations have kitchenettes, but aren’t that common.