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Ultimately, Airbnb is just a trap. Hotels already have economy of scale working for them. They bother to pay for insurance to protect themselves from things lik
by tofof 10y ago
Ultimately, Airbnb is just a trap. Hotels already have economy of scale working for them. They bother to pay for insurance to protect themselves from things like this, and have the ability to bill you directly if you cause damage.
Anyone renting out space on AirBNB and beating a hotel's price is probably either - skipping out on things like insurance (which will eventually bite them, cf this article), skipping out on quality of accommodations, or otherwise shorting /themselves/ out of what the market would pay for that space. The few exceptions are things like niche locations that are very near to a particular destination (e.g. a university) that has a predictable if low-volume draw that doesn't justify a full-scale hotel.
- hiou 10y agoIt is not amazing how much a company can make on an irrational market pushing full steam ahead? Oops I meant the sharing economy.
- SubiculumCode 10y agoYes and no. A regular renter is better UNLESS the owner wants to use the property when desired, or as in the present story, or the property will be vacant for a short amount if time.
- paulddraper 10y agoTrue. But the advantage of AirBnB is that it can achieve fuller utilization of properties that are seasonally used, or temporary available, etc. Also, you can rent different properties, e.g. a lakeside cabin, that you can't get from a hotel. Running a full-time competitor for years against a hotel is not the right idea.