8 ms·

Airbnb can’t go on unregulated – it does too much damage to cities

61 points by Ibethewalrus 8y ago

rocketpastsix 8y ago
Seeing what Airbnb has done to Nashville, its only going to get worse.
- grogenaut 8y ago
  Care to elaborate?
remote_phone 8y ago
I was in Toronto this summer, and it seemed like the entire condo was inhabited by Airbnb-ers. We were told in the instructions not to talk to the concierge or neighbors and when asked just say we are friends of the airbnber. The funny thing is that everyone we saw was doing Airbnb. A bunch of people were entering the condo with luggage every time we were in the lobby, and when we left there were 8 other people were leaving at the same time. It might or might not be legal in Toronto but it’s a poorly kept secret. I’m curious what an economic downturn would do because you can’t walk away from mortgage debt in Canada the same way you can in most states of the US.
- killjoywashere 8y ago
  Wow, how can I walk away from mortgage debt? Did I miss something?
  - jxi 8y ago
    You can default on properties.. like Trump did.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 8y ago
    Stop paying your mortgage, and the bank will eventually take your house. But they can't take anything else, no matter how much you owe. In many other countries, this is not the case.
  - nikanj 8y ago
    Mortgages are non-recourse in 11 states. The expression "jingle mail" might also be worth googling. In Canada, and the rest of the US, if your mortgage is underwater it's a problem for you. In those 11 states, it's a problem for the bank.
    - remote_phone 8y ago
      During the housing bust, no one was held liable for foreclosures. Their credit rating was busted but that’s it.
peacetreefrog 8y ago
I have some sympathy for people being kept up late at night be noise, although it seems like there are other, more direct ways to deal with that (i.e. cracking down on the people being too loud). The rest of it seems like another form of NIMBYism though.
- city41 8y ago
  But you can't crack down on the people being too loud. In two days they'll be gone, replaced by brand new loud people. I don't think this is NIMBYism at all. People have a reasonable expectation that the residential area they live in will be treated as a residential area and not a business.
Theodores 8y ago
Another aspect of Airbnb is that it makes everywhere the same as far as interior decor goes. Traditional rent seeking landlords spend $0.00 on things like paint, carpets and fixtures, preserving places in some rotten state of decay as long term tenants are not going to be spending their money on such things even if they are living there for many years. There is no reason for them to do so and with landlords extorting as much from their properties as possible the tenants do not have surplus income to improve their dwellings even if they should want to do so. Airbnb transformed that, the rent seeking class can now get income on their properties without having to put up with long term tenants. However they do have to spend money on the property fixtures, which can be paid for with debt, debt that is 'secured' by the property. As a consequence there is a particular Airbnb style, it is a global style influenced by upmarket hotels and the faceless luxury decor you get with them. This might work out nicely for the rent seeker and the guest, however it means character is lost. The property becomes bland Airbnb which can't be transformed back to vernacular. When the rent seeker eventually sells up and a new buyer is sought then the house does go on the market. It has its price and sells fine with its identikit Airbnb fixtures. However some people don't want to live in one of these ex-Airbnb places, they might have wanted mid-century modern or Victorian or whatever else the property should have, i.e. actual character befitting the area and not the internet.
- modwilliam 8y ago
  Could you show some examples of the particular Airbnb style?
  - badwolf 8y ago
    from my anecdotal experience, Every AirBnB is like an Ikea vomited all over everything.
  - focom 8y ago
    > Could you show some examples of the particular Airbnb style? There is a great long form written in 2016 by the verge about it : https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-global-minimalism-startup-gentrification https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-...
keerthiko 8y ago
The way cities go about targeting airbnb only exacerbates the problem -- they make it harder for tenants to host guests to offset their rental cost -- and thus incentivize property owners to take rental units off the market in favor of the more lucrative option of making them short-term airbnb units instead. Cities should be allowing people to host in their primary residences, whether owned property or as rental tenants, if anyone is allowed to host short term paying guests at all. If airbnb made it harder for property owners to list units on airbnb that weren't their primary residence, while on the other hand allowing renters to offset high rental costs by hosting guests at their primary residence on occasion, i see it as a win-win. The protections major cities give landlords who wish to prevent their rental tenants from hosting on airbnb seem unreasonable until you realize that hoteliers and landlords have more impact on city policies on these things.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
  Just want to point out that in high-demand urban areas, this proposal would still be expected to cause rents to increase. The amount you can charge for rent is fundamentally limited by the income of your potential renters, but now it becomes income of potential renters plus the amount they could expect to earn by sharing the property out on Airbnb. It's similar to what happened with low interest rates before the housing boom and bust. You'd expect low interest rates would make housing cheaper for buyers, but it also had the effect of causing house prices to rise because now there were more people who could afford to bid on the same housing stock.
  - keerthiko 8y ago
    Completely agree. My pet idea is a tax for every bedroom in a residence over the headcount of primary residents. This becomes hairy when deciding what qualifies as a bedroom etc, but it will disincentivize renting properties with spare bedrooms dedicated to Airbnb hosting. This way Airbnb units will primarily be rooms left empty by primary residents traveling. The idea of the sharing economy was supposed to be sharing what you normally use, when you happen to not be using it, with financial incentives to offset your property "rent". Not setting aside resources exclusively for "sharing" in order to profit. That's just subcontracting.
killjoywashere 8y ago
> In Barcelona, it used to cost €250 (£221) for a short-term rental permit. Now that such permits are no longer being issued, they change hands for up to €80,000. So, this is the same thing as the taxi market: with an inelastic supply, the price of a medallion in some cities was worth more than a house. And if you're familiar with taxis pre-Uber, you can bet the permit holders will start neglecting the properties to the point that noone wants to use the service anymore.
sonnyblarney 8y ago
The problem with AirBnB is not AirBnB. It's hotel regulation. What ABnB has demonstrated is that there is a vastly underserved market for regular travellers, who have no interest in 'having their sheets changed every day' - rather, they just want a decent and convenient space - and they can't afford the $250/night for a boring room 'corporate' rate. If hotels and their regulations were efficient - then AirBnB would only be used what is was kind of meant for: either sharing/hosting - or - renting out fairly 'special' places that just don't fit regular criteria. Most AirBnB stays are a matter of price and convenience. The fact that I can stay in cities, in a decent place for less than 1/2 the cost of a hotel is what makes me hate AirBnB less than hotels and city regulators. Something is deeply wrong with the hotel and regulatory areas there or else AirBnB wouldn't be a huge-huge thing. A commenter below about a building that seemed to be AirBnBers ... think for a moment how even more efficient it would be if the whole dam thing were just a hotel, with a maid staff that only cleaned and changed the sheets between stays and could provide keys/keycodes. As it stands, even AirBnB is not near real 'cost efficiency' because there's so much 'little overhead' with each rental. Not only should that building be a hotel but it should be cheaper than AirBnB! In fact, if markets were reasonably competitive AirBnB should generally be more expensive. I understand that individual patrons don't have nearly the safety and regulatory expenses ... but it doesn't add up. City regulators and hotel operators need to figure out a slightly different model.
- lovich 8y ago
  Preface: I dont actually have a set opinion yet on whether Airbnb is net good/bad. How much of this is regulation thats around to protect the society that the hotel is operating in? Changing those sheets everyday isn't just for having clean smelling sheets, but to prevent pests such as bed bugs in some localities. For instance there's probably tons of people whod jump on doctors/dentists who lower the price by not cleaning all their tools properly, but we have regulations requiring it because it can create an epidemic that causes negative externalities to the wider community. I think I'd have less of a problem with Airbnb if there was any sort of enforcement of health laws or putting effort into not supporting people who sign leases saying they won't do Airbnb but do it anyway. Having a lower price just shows that is the most efficient use of scarce resources in that specific situation, it does not show that it's good for society.
emdubs 8y ago
Ultimately the question is whether the market is constrained by supply or price. If the constrait is price, then hotels should be able to adjust and stop charging ridiculous default rates in urban areas. If the market is constrained by supply eventually it will be economically viable to build new units. That's not to say that Airbnb should not be regulated similarly to hotels. Imo if you provide a nearly identical service you should follow the same regulations
avoutthere 8y ago
Maybe I'm dense, but I'm failing to see any real problem here. Certainly none that would warrant government infringing on private property rights.
- luckylittle 8y ago
  Me neither. If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it. The argument, that it's bringing up prices is false - AirBnB, same as Uber, exist because the prices were already high. If the prices were normal (especially here in Australia), these types of services would not profit. Think about a scenario when young couple with kids is paying so much for mortgage/rent so if they need to go overseas for a few months, they don't really have any other choice than list it on AirBnB to cover portion of the cost.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it The idea that law should not govern your actions provided you are using your own property in those actions is...unusual.
  - city41 8y ago
    > If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it That just isn't true though. You can't even alter a property without first getting a permit in many cases. The things you do to stuff that you own can impact the greater community, so the needs of the community need to be considered.
- KozmoNau7 8y ago
  On a local scale, the problem is the constant in/out of short term renters. They don't care about the neighborhood, they don't care about the neighbors, they don't care about making too much noise. They'll be somewhere else in a week anyway. Meanwhile, the actual residents have to put up with constantly changing "neighbors", noise and more often than not common fixtures getting trashed and mistreated. On a larger scale, it drives up prices, because landlords would rather extract the much higher rates from short-term renters than the more reasonable rates a long-term renters would pay. This drives up rent, and forces people out of the housing market. You end up with Airbnb ghettos, in effect turning previously nice neighborhoods into de facto hotel businesses. Thus robbing residential areas of their cohesion and community. Here, a few law changes were put in place to mitigate the problem, while still slowing people to short-term rent out their dwellings while on vacation. The provider (Airbnb) has to report taxable income, and there is a limit of 70 days/year.
sytelus 8y ago
I fail to see what exactly are the claimed problems here. The article contains unproven claims like: Rents for residents are being driven up, in Barcelona as well as Berlin, New York and elsewhere. Rents have been going up everywhere because of the real estate market moves, not AirBnB. It's disingenuous to throw it on AirBnB. In Barcelona, it used to cost €250 (£221) for a short-term rental permit. Now that such permits are no longer being issued, they change hands for up to €80,000. This is the problem Barcelona government created by artificially limiting the supply just like NYC did with taxi medallions. What do you expect? AirBnB is the good thing and its great to see these brave startups going up against government sponsored monopoly on artificially limiting taxi and hotel ownerships only to small group of rich people. These oligarchies exploit poorest people to generate passive income for the rich. In ideal world, people would vote out government passing such laws but their lobbiests have perfected the art to sweep these laws under the rug. AirBnB allows to utilize spare capacity available in the already dense city that is doing no work at optimal pricing. Anyway, there is absolutely no other claims or proof or data I see in this article. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these articles are sponsored by the hotel lobby.
- johnchristopher 8y ago
  > AirBnB is the good thing and its great to see these brave startups going up against government sponsored monopoly on artificially limiting taxi and hotel ownerships only to small group of rich people. But that's exactly what's happening in Barcelona. 48% of all AirBnB places are managed by 374 people (4500 places, 374 people have more than 5 places to manage). These aren't the little people getting pocket money to lend homes the week-end they are out of town. > I wouldn't be surprised at all if these articles are sponsored by the hotel lobby. Rumour says that hotels are behind the concentration of airbnb places into fewer hands. In Barcelona, they basically created licences to operate an airbnb place. Now they are too many so they stopped issueing licences. Now these are worth more because it's rare.
- darawk 8y ago
  The level of economic illiteracy in the media these days is just incredible.
the_clarence 8y ago
Airbnb is freaking amazing for travelers. I think it cometely changed the game for world exchanges. It's one of the few companies that I truly believe made the world a better place.
- foepys 8y ago
  Not if your "neighbor" (in reality an company renting out dozens of apartment) put their apartment on Airbnb and you get a new bunch of drunk and noisy tourists every week. You can call the cops all you want, they don't really care because they are in holiday, and next week it will start again with a new bunch of tourists.
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    Nor if you're trying to find accommodation in an already lacking city, and AirBnB further exacerbates the problem because people can make more money over a summer of short term rentals than a full year of long-term tenants. Or they avoid paying taxes because AirBnB leaves it up to them, and they never report it... AirBnB has basically made some aspects of travelling better, but overall it's made the locales much worse off.
    - the_clarence 8y ago
      Tourism and short term acocmmodation is as important as long term accomodation imo.
      - dorchadas 8y ago
        Both are important, but I'd say long term is more important. These are the people who are going to be living there for years, sending their kids to schools there, using the resources there daily, etc. Honestly, they shouldn't be screwed over simply because owners can't get more money from AirBnB. They provide much more over a longer period of time than tourists ever will, or can. Not saying tourists aren't important, but long term residents should be the priority.
hirseypie 8y ago
Socialiat drivel. When a platform connects landlords and renters efficiently such that extra money flows into economy from extra tourism.... is bad? You know what their "solution" is? Guess... It is to raise taxes on landlords and residents, and line the pockets of politicians further in the name of them "paying their fair share"
fanzhang 8y ago
> Airbnb is a parasitic monster that squats over cities and hoovers up vast sums of money through its slimy proboscis. I wonder whether the author would still have a problem if AirBnB were a nonprofit (e.g. took 0% of the cut). That would reveal whether his real argument is against AirBnB's profits, or that having an open short-term market is harmful ipso facto (but when who play the colorful part of the monster? probably the landlord-traveller duo?).
- eesmith 8y ago
  BTW, "nonprofit" doesn't mean "no profit"/"0% of the cut". There are many ways to make money as a non-profit organization, including some which can be interpreted as 'parasitic.' Consider a non-profit charter school which licenses teaching material from a for-profit company and pays a for-profit company for the building lease - and where the owner of the non-profit is also the owner of the other two companies. Examples at https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2018/08/13/how-to-profit-from-your-non-profit-charter-school/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2018/08/13/how-to-p... . Non-profits can also take a part of the cut, as we find out with charity organizations where, say, 85% of the donations goes to running the organization. Examples at https://www.thestreet.com/story/12878005/1/you-wont-believe-the-overhead-costs-at-these-10-nonprofits.html https://www.thestreet.com/story/12878005/1/you-wont-believe-... .
ggm 8y ago
Had a six month rental (not Airbnb) in Amsterdam and the effect of Airbnb in rental market terms was palpable. Less properties available and higher prices. This was during a time of falling property price for purchase, and yet a shortage of proper rental homes.. that's pretty unhinged. I rented below a worker in tenancy management who told me he dealt quite often with protected tenancy holders subletting illegally. Ultimately the Dutch tax authorities and Amsterdam City council cooperated on a response to undeclared income with Airbnb and I think have pushed back on what is abuse of community value. If you are told by your "host" to act like it's not Airbnb, isn't that a bit of a signal about its legality? Or acceptance by neighbours? It's a pretty destructive model, even if at the individual level is proffers benefits to the home owner (many who sublet, are doing it illegally or off contract) Many body corporates are aware of short term letting in their communal property and can do nothing about it. Apart from Airbnb you also have to contend with illegal casinos and brothels) The effects of short stay rental are not just about iconic western cities like Barca. There is a problem in Bali I am told.

61 points by Ibethewalrus 8y ago

rocketpastsix 8y ago

Seeing what Airbnb has done to Nashville, its only going to get worse.

grogenaut 8y ago
Care to elaborate?

remote_phone 8y ago

I was in Toronto this summer, and it seemed like the entire condo was inhabited by Airbnb-ers. We were told in the instructions not to talk to the concierge or neighbors and when asked just say we are friends of the airbnber. The funny thing is that everyone we saw was doing Airbnb. A bunch of people were entering the condo with luggage every time we were in the lobby, and when we left there were 8 other people were leaving at the same time. It might or might not be legal in Toronto but it’s a poorly kept secret. I’m curious what an economic downturn would do because you can’t walk away from mortgage debt in Canada the same way you can in most states of the US.

killjoywashere 8y ago
Wow, how can I walk away from mortgage debt? Did I miss something?
- jxi 8y ago
  You can default on properties.. like Trump did.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 8y ago
  Stop paying your mortgage, and the bank will eventually take your house. But they can't take anything else, no matter how much you owe. In many other countries, this is not the case.
- nikanj 8y ago
  Mortgages are non-recourse in 11 states. The expression "jingle mail" might also be worth googling. In Canada, and the rest of the US, if your mortgage is underwater it's a problem for you. In those 11 states, it's a problem for the bank.
  - remote_phone 8y ago
    During the housing bust, no one was held liable for foreclosures. Their credit rating was busted but that’s it.

peacetreefrog 8y ago

I have some sympathy for people being kept up late at night be noise, although it seems like there are other, more direct ways to deal with that (i.e. cracking down on the people being too loud). The rest of it seems like another form of NIMBYism though.

city41 8y ago
But you can't crack down on the people being too loud. In two days they'll be gone, replaced by brand new loud people. I don't think this is NIMBYism at all. People have a reasonable expectation that the residential area they live in will be treated as a residential area and not a business.

Theodores 8y ago

Another aspect of Airbnb is that it makes everywhere the same as far as interior decor goes. Traditional rent seeking landlords spend $0.00 on things like paint, carpets and fixtures, preserving places in some rotten state of decay as long term tenants are not going to be spending their money on such things even if they are living there for many years. There is no reason for them to do so and with landlords extorting as much from their properties as possible the tenants do not have surplus income to improve their dwellings even if they should want to do so. Airbnb transformed that, the rent seeking class can now get income on their properties without having to put up with long term tenants. However they do have to spend money on the property fixtures, which can be paid for with debt, debt that is 'secured' by the property. As a consequence there is a particular Airbnb style, it is a global style influenced by upmarket hotels and the faceless luxury decor you get with them. This might work out nicely for the rent seeker and the guest, however it means character is lost. The property becomes bland Airbnb which can't be transformed back to vernacular. When the rent seeker eventually sells up and a new buyer is sought then the house does go on the market. It has its price and sells fine with its identikit Airbnb fixtures. However some people don't want to live in one of these ex-Airbnb places, they might have wanted mid-century modern or Victorian or whatever else the property should have, i.e. actual character befitting the area and not the internet.

modwilliam 8y ago
Could you show some examples of the particular Airbnb style?
- badwolf 8y ago
  from my anecdotal experience, Every AirBnB is like an Ikea vomited all over everything.
- focom 8y ago
  > Could you show some examples of the particular Airbnb style? There is a great long form written in 2016 by the verge about it : https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-global-minimalism-startup-gentrification https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/3/12325104/airbnb-aesthetic-...

keerthiko 8y ago

The way cities go about targeting airbnb only exacerbates the problem -- they make it harder for tenants to host guests to offset their rental cost -- and thus incentivize property owners to take rental units off the market in favor of the more lucrative option of making them short-term airbnb units instead. Cities should be allowing people to host in their primary residences, whether owned property or as rental tenants, if anyone is allowed to host short term paying guests at all. If airbnb made it harder for property owners to list units on airbnb that weren't their primary residence, while on the other hand allowing renters to offset high rental costs by hosting guests at their primary residence on occasion, i see it as a win-win. The protections major cities give landlords who wish to prevent their rental tenants from hosting on airbnb seem unreasonable until you realize that hoteliers and landlords have more impact on city policies on these things.

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
Just want to point out that in high-demand urban areas, this proposal would still be expected to cause rents to increase. The amount you can charge for rent is fundamentally limited by the income of your potential renters, but now it becomes income of potential renters plus the amount they could expect to earn by sharing the property out on Airbnb. It's similar to what happened with low interest rates before the housing boom and bust. You'd expect low interest rates would make housing cheaper for buyers, but it also had the effect of causing house prices to rise because now there were more people who could afford to bid on the same housing stock.
- keerthiko 8y ago
  Completely agree. My pet idea is a tax for every bedroom in a residence over the headcount of primary residents. This becomes hairy when deciding what qualifies as a bedroom etc, but it will disincentivize renting properties with spare bedrooms dedicated to Airbnb hosting. This way Airbnb units will primarily be rooms left empty by primary residents traveling. The idea of the sharing economy was supposed to be sharing what you normally use, when you happen to not be using it, with financial incentives to offset your property "rent". Not setting aside resources exclusively for "sharing" in order to profit. That's just subcontracting.

killjoywashere 8y ago

> In Barcelona, it used to cost €250 (£221) for a short-term rental permit. Now that such permits are no longer being issued, they change hands for up to €80,000. So, this is the same thing as the taxi market: with an inelastic supply, the price of a medallion in some cities was worth more than a house. And if you're familiar with taxis pre-Uber, you can bet the permit holders will start neglecting the properties to the point that noone wants to use the service anymore.

sonnyblarney 8y ago

The problem with AirBnB is not AirBnB. It's hotel regulation. What ABnB has demonstrated is that there is a vastly underserved market for regular travellers, who have no interest in 'having their sheets changed every day' - rather, they just want a decent and convenient space - and they can't afford the $250/night for a boring room 'corporate' rate. If hotels and their regulations were efficient - then AirBnB would only be used what is was kind of meant for: either sharing/hosting - or - renting out fairly 'special' places that just don't fit regular criteria. Most AirBnB stays are a matter of price and convenience. The fact that I can stay in cities, in a decent place for less than 1/2 the cost of a hotel is what makes me hate AirBnB less than hotels and city regulators. Something is deeply wrong with the hotel and regulatory areas there or else AirBnB wouldn't be a huge-huge thing. A commenter below about a building that seemed to be AirBnBers ... think for a moment how even more efficient it would be if the whole dam thing were just a hotel, with a maid staff that only cleaned and changed the sheets between stays and could provide keys/keycodes. As it stands, even AirBnB is not near real 'cost efficiency' because there's so much 'little overhead' with each rental. Not only should that building be a hotel but it should be cheaper than AirBnB! In fact, if markets were reasonably competitive AirBnB should generally be more expensive. I understand that individual patrons don't have nearly the safety and regulatory expenses ... but it doesn't add up. City regulators and hotel operators need to figure out a slightly different model.

lovich 8y ago
Preface: I dont actually have a set opinion yet on whether Airbnb is net good/bad. How much of this is regulation thats around to protect the society that the hotel is operating in? Changing those sheets everyday isn't just for having clean smelling sheets, but to prevent pests such as bed bugs in some localities. For instance there's probably tons of people whod jump on doctors/dentists who lower the price by not cleaning all their tools properly, but we have regulations requiring it because it can create an epidemic that causes negative externalities to the wider community. I think I'd have less of a problem with Airbnb if there was any sort of enforcement of health laws or putting effort into not supporting people who sign leases saying they won't do Airbnb but do it anyway. Having a lower price just shows that is the most efficient use of scarce resources in that specific situation, it does not show that it's good for society.

emdubs 8y ago

Ultimately the question is whether the market is constrained by supply or price. If the constrait is price, then hotels should be able to adjust and stop charging ridiculous default rates in urban areas. If the market is constrained by supply eventually it will be economically viable to build new units. That's not to say that Airbnb should not be regulated similarly to hotels. Imo if you provide a nearly identical service you should follow the same regulations

avoutthere 8y ago

Maybe I'm dense, but I'm failing to see any real problem here. Certainly none that would warrant government infringing on private property rights.

luckylittle 8y ago
Me neither. If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it. The argument, that it's bringing up prices is false - AirBnB, same as Uber, exist because the prices were already high. If the prices were normal (especially here in Australia), these types of services would not profit. Think about a scenario when young couple with kids is paying so much for mortgage/rent so if they need to go overseas for a few months, they don't really have any other choice than list it on AirBnB to cover portion of the cost.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it The idea that law should not govern your actions provided you are using your own property in those actions is...unusual.
- city41 8y ago
  > If you own a property, you should be able to do whatever you want with it That just isn't true though. You can't even alter a property without first getting a permit in many cases. The things you do to stuff that you own can impact the greater community, so the needs of the community need to be considered.
KozmoNau7 8y ago
On a local scale, the problem is the constant in/out of short term renters. They don't care about the neighborhood, they don't care about the neighbors, they don't care about making too much noise. They'll be somewhere else in a week anyway. Meanwhile, the actual residents have to put up with constantly changing "neighbors", noise and more often than not common fixtures getting trashed and mistreated. On a larger scale, it drives up prices, because landlords would rather extract the much higher rates from short-term renters than the more reasonable rates a long-term renters would pay. This drives up rent, and forces people out of the housing market. You end up with Airbnb ghettos, in effect turning previously nice neighborhoods into de facto hotel businesses. Thus robbing residential areas of their cohesion and community. Here, a few law changes were put in place to mitigate the problem, while still slowing people to short-term rent out their dwellings while on vacation. The provider (Airbnb) has to report taxable income, and there is a limit of 70 days/year.

sytelus 8y ago

I fail to see what exactly are the claimed problems here. The article contains unproven claims like: Rents for residents are being driven up, in Barcelona as well as Berlin, New York and elsewhere. Rents have been going up everywhere because of the real estate market moves, not AirBnB. It's disingenuous to throw it on AirBnB. In Barcelona, it used to cost €250 (£221) for a short-term rental permit. Now that such permits are no longer being issued, they change hands for up to €80,000. This is the problem Barcelona government created by artificially limiting the supply just like NYC did with taxi medallions. What do you expect? AirBnB is the good thing and its great to see these brave startups going up against government sponsored monopoly on artificially limiting taxi and hotel ownerships only to small group of rich people. These oligarchies exploit poorest people to generate passive income for the rich. In ideal world, people would vote out government passing such laws but their lobbiests have perfected the art to sweep these laws under the rug. AirBnB allows to utilize spare capacity available in the already dense city that is doing no work at optimal pricing. Anyway, there is absolutely no other claims or proof or data I see in this article. I wouldn't be surprised at all if these articles are sponsored by the hotel lobby.

johnchristopher 8y ago
> AirBnB is the good thing and its great to see these brave startups going up against government sponsored monopoly on artificially limiting taxi and hotel ownerships only to small group of rich people. But that's exactly what's happening in Barcelona. 48% of all AirBnB places are managed by 374 people (4500 places, 374 people have more than 5 places to manage). These aren't the little people getting pocket money to lend homes the week-end they are out of town. > I wouldn't be surprised at all if these articles are sponsored by the hotel lobby. Rumour says that hotels are behind the concentration of airbnb places into fewer hands. In Barcelona, they basically created licences to operate an airbnb place. Now they are too many so they stopped issueing licences. Now these are worth more because it's rare.
darawk 8y ago
The level of economic illiteracy in the media these days is just incredible.

the_clarence 8y ago

Airbnb is freaking amazing for travelers. I think it cometely changed the game for world exchanges. It's one of the few companies that I truly believe made the world a better place.

foepys 8y ago
Not if your "neighbor" (in reality an company renting out dozens of apartment) put their apartment on Airbnb and you get a new bunch of drunk and noisy tourists every week. You can call the cops all you want, they don't really care because they are in holiday, and next week it will start again with a new bunch of tourists.
- dorchadas 8y ago
  Nor if you're trying to find accommodation in an already lacking city, and AirBnB further exacerbates the problem because people can make more money over a summer of short term rentals than a full year of long-term tenants. Or they avoid paying taxes because AirBnB leaves it up to them, and they never report it... AirBnB has basically made some aspects of travelling better, but overall it's made the locales much worse off.
  - the_clarence 8y ago
    Tourism and short term acocmmodation is as important as long term accomodation imo.
    - dorchadas 8y ago
      Both are important, but I'd say long term is more important. These are the people who are going to be living there for years, sending their kids to schools there, using the resources there daily, etc. Honestly, they shouldn't be screwed over simply because owners can't get more money from AirBnB. They provide much more over a longer period of time than tourists ever will, or can. Not saying tourists aren't important, but long term residents should be the priority.

hirseypie 8y ago

Socialiat drivel. When a platform connects landlords and renters efficiently such that extra money flows into economy from extra tourism.... is bad? You know what their "solution" is? Guess... It is to raise taxes on landlords and residents, and line the pockets of politicians further in the name of them "paying their fair share"

fanzhang 8y ago

> Airbnb is a parasitic monster that squats over cities and hoovers up vast sums of money through its slimy proboscis. I wonder whether the author would still have a problem if AirBnB were a nonprofit (e.g. took 0% of the cut). That would reveal whether his real argument is against AirBnB's profits, or that having an open short-term market is harmful ipso facto (but when who play the colorful part of the monster? probably the landlord-traveller duo?).

eesmith 8y ago
BTW, "nonprofit" doesn't mean "no profit"/"0% of the cut". There are many ways to make money as a non-profit organization, including some which can be interpreted as 'parasitic.' Consider a non-profit charter school which licenses teaching material from a for-profit company and pays a for-profit company for the building lease - and where the owner of the non-profit is also the owner of the other two companies. Examples at https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2018/08/13/how-to-profit-from-your-non-profit-charter-school/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2018/08/13/how-to-p... . Non-profits can also take a part of the cut, as we find out with charity organizations where, say, 85% of the donations goes to running the organization. Examples at https://www.thestreet.com/story/12878005/1/you-wont-believe-the-overhead-costs-at-these-10-nonprofits.html https://www.thestreet.com/story/12878005/1/you-wont-believe-... .

ggm 8y ago

Had a six month rental (not Airbnb) in Amsterdam and the effect of Airbnb in rental market terms was palpable. Less properties available and higher prices. This was during a time of falling property price for purchase, and yet a shortage of proper rental homes.. that's pretty unhinged. I rented below a worker in tenancy management who told me he dealt quite often with protected tenancy holders subletting illegally. Ultimately the Dutch tax authorities and Amsterdam City council cooperated on a response to undeclared income with Airbnb and I think have pushed back on what is abuse of community value. If you are told by your "host" to act like it's not Airbnb, isn't that a bit of a signal about its legality? Or acceptance by neighbours? It's a pretty destructive model, even if at the individual level is proffers benefits to the home owner (many who sublet, are doing it illegally or off contract) Many body corporates are aware of short term letting in their communal property and can do nothing about it. Apart from Airbnb you also have to contend with illegal casinos and brothels) The effects of short stay rental are not just about iconic western cities like Barca. There is a problem in Bali I am told.