5 ms·

Oh, don't start with that "it's just a guy helping out another guy" nonsense. Airbnb is a gigantic business, and the 'hosts' are also businesses, and have to ac

by gergles 10y ago

Oh, don't start with that "it's just a guy helping out another guy" nonsense. Airbnb is a gigantic business, and the 'hosts' are also businesses, and have to accept regulation as such. Of course it is the governments' jurisdiction to regulate the safety, sanitation, and other relevant laws that relate to paid lodging no matter who the person is offering said paid lodging. Airbnb rentals (in the overwhelming majority of cases) aren't me sharing my couch with my best friend while he's in town, this is me letting a stranger come into my house and stay here for money. Acting like those are equivalent situations diminishes your argument.

Karunamon 10y ago
>Airbnb is a gigantic business, Right. >and the 'hosts' are also businesses Wrong. The hosts may or may not be a business, depending on their circumstances and motivations. A host could be someone leasing out their rental, or could be someone just renting out an extra room for some side cash. Until you have data to suggest otherwise, please refrain from damning everyone in the second category as belonging to the first category.
- debacle 10y ago
  If you're accepting money from someone in exchange for a good (in this case, housing), you are a business.
  - Karunamon 10y ago
    An interesting definition. One that I'm glad doesn't apply to the random junk I sell on eBay and Craigslist.
    - xapata 10y ago
      In fact it does! The IRS just doesn't bother to go after you for it, because it's not worth the effort.
      - Karunamon 10y ago
        No, the IRS doesn't bother to go after me for it because generally, those items are being sold at a loss.
Cshelton 10y ago
This is where you and I will never come to an agreement: You quickly jump to the government to regulate and essentially run every aspect of your life and the decisions you make. I would argue that there is no place what-so-ever for government regulation in the market that AirBnB hosts' participate in. It is self regulating. If AirBnB is deceptive or unfair in their marketplace of listings, people will stop using it. If AirBnB is unfair to hosts, hosts will stop renting their place on AirBnB. If a place is not safe/sanitary/etc., and AirBnB still allows it to be listed, people will have a bad AirBnB experience and stop using AirBnB and/or that renter. AirBnB has the motivation to make all hosts follow a certain level of expectation to avoid the above. Otherwise AirBnB will go out of business. And with places that violate building regulations/etc., the city is already responsible for that, whether the host lives there themselves or rents it out. And yes, it is as simple as a PRIVATE citizen renting out their location to another PRIVATE citizen. The fact that it is not my buddy sleeping on the couch but some stranger is up to the HOST. They have the freedom to choose if they want to rent their place out on the market place to a stranger or not. That is what is so great about a free market, it is NOT up to you or the GOVERNMENT. Same as any person has the choice to stay at an AirBnB or a hotel, or anything else they find...hell..go camping. The point here is that it is NOT the governments job to step in and not allow a choice that somebody is WILLING to make. Just because you may find AirBnB unfitting does not make it wrong and should not be illegal. Hotels have no business lobbying to ban this practice and it's indicative of them that they are not willing to even once sit down and think, how can we better serve and compete against the target market of AirBnB. It's pretty damn simple. I even listed above something they could look at. Other commentators have made the same point and other things the hotel industry could do. But no... what do they do... turn to the government. Government regulation is NOT the solution here. It is pretty sickening that so many people turn to government to regulate something at the first sign of something not being perfect. I am legitimately curious, have you ever walked into a hotel room and it was disgusting? Did you immediately leave and complain to the hotel manager? Did you contact the city the hotel was in and tell them the hotel was not clean? Did you tell the city they should make more regulations on how a hotel should be? OR, if you happen to go to a hotel that was not clean, or anything else that was not up to your standards of what a hotel should be. Did you stay there still? Did you ever come back to that hotel on another trip. My point is YOU made a decision what to do based on what you were willing to pay. That is called a free market. Not a government regulates everything market. Other people may have been willing to stay in the hotel above at a given price.

by gergles 10y ago

Karunamon 10y ago

>Airbnb is a gigantic business, Right. >and the 'hosts' are also businesses Wrong. The hosts may or may not be a business, depending on their circumstances and motivations. A host could be someone leasing out their rental, or could be someone just renting out an extra room for some side cash. Until you have data to suggest otherwise, please refrain from damning everyone in the second category as belonging to the first category.

debacle 10y ago
If you're accepting money from someone in exchange for a good (in this case, housing), you are a business.
- Karunamon 10y ago
  An interesting definition. One that I'm glad doesn't apply to the random junk I sell on eBay and Craigslist.
  - xapata 10y ago
    In fact it does! The IRS just doesn't bother to go after you for it, because it's not worth the effort.
    - Karunamon 10y ago
      No, the IRS doesn't bother to go after me for it because generally, those items are being sold at a loss.

Cshelton 10y ago

This is where you and I will never come to an agreement: You quickly jump to the government to regulate and essentially run every aspect of your life and the decisions you make. I would argue that there is no place what-so-ever for government regulation in the market that AirBnB hosts' participate in. It is self regulating. If AirBnB is deceptive or unfair in their marketplace of listings, people will stop using it. If AirBnB is unfair to hosts, hosts will stop renting their place on AirBnB. If a place is not safe/sanitary/etc., and AirBnB still allows it to be listed, people will have a bad AirBnB experience and stop using AirBnB and/or that renter. AirBnB has the motivation to make all hosts follow a certain level of expectation to avoid the above. Otherwise AirBnB will go out of business. And with places that violate building regulations/etc., the city is already responsible for that, whether the host lives there themselves or rents it out. And yes, it is as simple as a PRIVATE citizen renting out their location to another PRIVATE citizen. The fact that it is not my buddy sleeping on the couch but some stranger is up to the HOST. They have the freedom to choose if they want to rent their place out on the market place to a stranger or not. That is what is so great about a free market, it is NOT up to you or the GOVERNMENT. Same as any person has the choice to stay at an AirBnB or a hotel, or anything else they find...hell..go camping. The point here is that it is NOT the governments job to step in and not allow a choice that somebody is WILLING to make. Just because you may find AirBnB unfitting does not make it wrong and should not be illegal. Hotels have no business lobbying to ban this practice and it's indicative of them that they are not willing to even once sit down and think, how can we better serve and compete against the target market of AirBnB. It's pretty damn simple. I even listed above something they could look at. Other commentators have made the same point and other things the hotel industry could do. But no... what do they do... turn to the government. Government regulation is NOT the solution here. It is pretty sickening that so many people turn to government to regulate something at the first sign of something not being perfect. I am legitimately curious, have you ever walked into a hotel room and it was disgusting? Did you immediately leave and complain to the hotel manager? Did you contact the city the hotel was in and tell them the hotel was not clean? Did you tell the city they should make more regulations on how a hotel should be? OR, if you happen to go to a hotel that was not clean, or anything else that was not up to your standards of what a hotel should be. Did you stay there still? Did you ever come back to that hotel on another trip. My point is YOU made a decision what to do based on what you were willing to pay. That is called a free market. Not a government regulates everything market. Other people may have been willing to stay in the hotel above at a given price.