4 ms·

Calling it "sharing economy" is doublespeak. Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes or picking up stra

Calling it "sharing economy" is doublespeak. Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes or picking up strangers who happen to be going the same direction. AirBnB hosts are short-let landlords, same as any other operator of holiday lets. Uber drivers are minicab drivers, same as any other minicab driver. They like to pretend otherwise in an attempt to bypass laws designed for consumer and worker protection.

vinay427 6y ago
> Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes I don't believe this is true for Airbnb, both anecdotally and from Airbnb's own statement about NYC: > "87 percent of Airbnb hosts in New York share only the home in which they live.” https://skift.com/2014/02/13/airbnb-in-nyc-the-real-numbers-behind-the-sharing-story/ https://skift.com/2014/02/13/airbnb-in-nyc-the-real-numbers-...
- dgoldstein0 6y ago
  And the other 13% make up what percent of new York Airbnb stays (for, say, 2019)?
- ric2b 6y ago
  That's misdirection. 87% of hosts, sure, but what percentage of rentals? Does it matter if there are a lot of accounts that only list a few days a year? Notice that 2/3 of rentals are for entire apartments, the hosts that share their own home clearly can't do that very often.
  - vinay427 6y ago
    I agree. I'm curious why you chose to reply to my comment with this complaint when I was directly responding to the claim, which you quite reasonably view to be "misdirection," in the parent comment.
    - mrow84 6y ago
      frobozz wrote: > Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes you replied: > I don't believe this is true for Airbnb, both anecdotally and from Airbnb's own statement about NYC and provided as evidence: > "87 percent of Airbnb hosts in New York share only the home in which they live." ric2b replied: > That's misdirection. 87% of hosts, sure, but what percentage of rentals? My reading is that ric2b's was implying that whilst 87% of _hosts_ might be sharing their own home, if you were to look at rentals then there would be a different picture, presumably on the basis that the other 13% are "sharing" multiple properties. ric2b's accusation of misdirection was aimed at your 87% claim, because, whilst it was technically accurate (unlike what frobozz said), it "misdirects" from the more important picture, which is that, to quote frobozz opening sentiment: > Calling it "sharing economy" is doublespeak. That being the case for aforementioned reasons.
- frobozz 6y ago
  That article is from 2014. This one from 2017 says otherwise. https://skift.com/2017/03/10/airbnbs-growth-is-being-driven-by-commercial-operators-report-says/ https://skift.com/2017/03/10/airbnbs-growth-is-being-driven-... In the US as a whole, 64% were renting out an entire home unit. Obviously, some of those could be owner-occupiers letting their own home whilst on holiday themselves. I have no trouble believing that Uber and AirBnB may have started out as facilitators of sharing. However, that is not what they have become. I may be wrong in saying "most hosts". There is a potential long tail of thousands of not-very-active spare-room hosts. However, do such operators count much terms of numbers of stays and money spent?
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  A) That’s from 2014. The market has changed B) I do not trust AirBnB to not lie or twist the numbers; they have an enormous incentive to do so C) This does not align with my experience, having both rented and lived near units that were clearly taken off the market for purely short term rental.
  - frobozz 6y ago
    B - They have done so. Their 2015 NYC stats had several commercial hosts excluded, making it look as though they were still just a way to make a bit of pocket money from your spare room.
- bart_spoon 6y ago
  Yes, and NYC is among the most expensive real estate markets in the world. I'm not surprised most people renting out an Airbnb can't afford a second property. I'm positive that outside of NYC the numbers look different.
TheHypnotist 6y ago
Yeah, Airbnb is an interesting case. I've used some nicely built apartments in peoples backyards and i've stayed in apartment buildings where there are full-time resident neighbors, but the apartment itself is purely Airbnb. The latter I find odd because I can only imagine the impact on local renters, I also assume the ones that draw up the leases are the ones renting this our via airbnb. I bet everyone else has a no sublet clause.

vinay427 6y ago

> Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes I don't believe this is true for Airbnb, both anecdotally and from Airbnb's own statement about NYC: > "87 percent of Airbnb hosts in New York share only the home in which they live.” https://skift.com/2014/02/13/airbnb-in-nyc-the-real-numbers-behind-the-sharing-story/ https://skift.com/2014/02/13/airbnb-in-nyc-the-real-numbers-...

dgoldstein0 6y ago
And the other 13% make up what percent of new York Airbnb stays (for, say, 2019)?
ric2b 6y ago
That's misdirection. 87% of hosts, sure, but what percentage of rentals? Does it matter if there are a lot of accounts that only list a few days a year? Notice that 2/3 of rentals are for entire apartments, the hosts that share their own home clearly can't do that very often.
- vinay427 6y ago
  I agree. I'm curious why you chose to reply to my comment with this complaint when I was directly responding to the claim, which you quite reasonably view to be "misdirection," in the parent comment.
  - mrow84 6y ago
    frobozz wrote: > Most AirBnB hosts and Uber drivers are not just occasionally letting spare space in their homes you replied: > I don't believe this is true for Airbnb, both anecdotally and from Airbnb's own statement about NYC and provided as evidence: > "87 percent of Airbnb hosts in New York share only the home in which they live." ric2b replied: > That's misdirection. 87% of hosts, sure, but what percentage of rentals? My reading is that ric2b's was implying that whilst 87% of _hosts_ might be sharing their own home, if you were to look at rentals then there would be a different picture, presumably on the basis that the other 13% are "sharing" multiple properties. ric2b's accusation of misdirection was aimed at your 87% claim, because, whilst it was technically accurate (unlike what frobozz said), it "misdirects" from the more important picture, which is that, to quote frobozz opening sentiment: > Calling it "sharing economy" is doublespeak. That being the case for aforementioned reasons.
frobozz 6y ago
That article is from 2014. This one from 2017 says otherwise. https://skift.com/2017/03/10/airbnbs-growth-is-being-driven-by-commercial-operators-report-says/ https://skift.com/2017/03/10/airbnbs-growth-is-being-driven-... In the US as a whole, 64% were renting out an entire home unit. Obviously, some of those could be owner-occupiers letting their own home whilst on holiday themselves. I have no trouble believing that Uber and AirBnB may have started out as facilitators of sharing. However, that is not what they have become. I may be wrong in saying "most hosts". There is a potential long tail of thousands of not-very-active spare-room hosts. However, do such operators count much terms of numbers of stays and money spent?
ashtonkem 6y ago
A) That’s from 2014. The market has changed B) I do not trust AirBnB to not lie or twist the numbers; they have an enormous incentive to do so C) This does not align with my experience, having both rented and lived near units that were clearly taken off the market for purely short term rental.
- frobozz 6y ago
  B - They have done so. Their 2015 NYC stats had several commercial hosts excluded, making it look as though they were still just a way to make a bit of pocket money from your spare room.
bart_spoon 6y ago
Yes, and NYC is among the most expensive real estate markets in the world. I'm not surprised most people renting out an Airbnb can't afford a second property. I'm positive that outside of NYC the numbers look different.

TheHypnotist 6y ago

Yeah, Airbnb is an interesting case. I've used some nicely built apartments in peoples backyards and i've stayed in apartment buildings where there are full-time resident neighbors, but the apartment itself is purely Airbnb. The latter I find odd because I can only imagine the impact on local renters, I also assume the ones that draw up the leases are the ones renting this our via airbnb. I bet everyone else has a no sublet clause.