The AirBnB (airbnb, Airbnb, AirbnB?) argument actually has two facets, and any argument with more than one part is too nuanced for arguing in public, sadly. Th

The AirBnB (airbnb, Airbnb, AirbnB?) argument actually has two facets, and any argument with more than one part is too nuanced for arguing in public, sadly. The two parts are: fast-flux roommate discovery versus entire apartments. Fast-flux roommate discovery is generally okay. You may have a roommate anyway, but this just lets you cycle them out daily/weekly/monthly. Plus, if the person is bad/rude/evil, you have to deal with them as well as your neighbors. You've got skin in the game. The fast-flux roommate thing gets shady when the owner says "i'll just sleep on the couch while you visit" or other variations of not really having enough room for a roommate, but making do. A lot of listings have that weird dynamic. The second, and more damaging, part of the AiRbNb story is when people become management companies and rent a dozen or a hundred apartments in a city to be 100% aIrBnB units. That is where real problems start. Rent apartments for $2,000 per month on a yearly lease then turn around and market them as short-term rentals for $200 per night. It's so common there are multiple concierge startups focused around cleaning and key-providing for short term sharing economy rentals taken out of the local for-natives housing supply. It's so common there are routine 'airbnb lies' your bookings are supported to tell to all the neighbors or doorman or building security if they get asked who they are (oh, I'm Sally's cousin!!!) (oh, and the third way, a middle ground between the first two, is when you rent out your apartment just while you're on vacation or whatnot. This is more of a traditional sublet scenario, just facilitated by an evil megacorp who charges too many fees. This falls into the "generally okay" bucket like fast-flux roommate discovery.)