The upside of AirBnB-like approaches is flexibility. Each person doing one or more rentals (of units that they don't usually live in) has low total capex, meani

The upside of AirBnB-like approaches is flexibility. Each person doing one or more rentals (of units that they don't usually live in) has low total capex, meaning expanding to serve increased demand is very quick compared to building a hotel. But it's obvious that this increases both volatility and prices on both the rental and housing markets. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a problem and affected cities introduce heavy taxation on short-term renting out dwellings which you don't usually live in and which are not planned for commercial use. OTOH, "semi-commercial" actors renting out apartments has existed for a lot longer than AirBnB. We stayed in one of these in Rome for a week in '09, found through some website for private rentals (AirBnB went international in '11). So it's not really a new thing, just a slicker UX which may or may not increase total demand for such services.