3 ms·
It's mostly regulatory arbitrage, same as Uber. If cities and townships were to have looser regulations on hotels - which evidently they should, given the vast
by jariel 6y ago
It's mostly regulatory arbitrage, same as Uber.
If cities and townships were to have looser regulations on hotels - which evidently they should, given the vast demand and 'mostly' it's not excessively problematic for communities - then AirBnB wouldn't exist because hotel prices and types would have much more variety and competitiveness, and so would listings.
If anyone could just get in their car and tell the local dispatcher 'they want to drive tonight' - probably Uber would have never been able to come to fruition in the first place.
I'm not saying that either company is good or bad, or that the regulations are good or bad, rather, that the underlying business models depended on a kind of civil regulatory asymmetry.
Personally, I wish cities would adjust their regulations to be more appropriate, I don't think there needs to be an Uber or AirBnB.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y agoLet's suppose that my municipality has adjusted their regulations to be more appropriate. I live in a 6 bedroom house, and only regularly use a couple of them. I decide to make one available for random people to stay, short term. How do I find them? How do they find me? How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate.
- jariel 6y ago"How does anyone find a regular hotel these days? That's why you need a website to coordinate" ? So your point is only AirBnB 'can make a website' ? If regulations were lax before AirBnB existed there'd be 1000 different sites you could list upon and hoteliers of all kinds would charge less. Or at least many would. Because AirBnb was the progenitor of the lease-your-room modality they captured the market and have a little bit of a natural monopoly in it, as there's some coordination with marketplace, identity, etc.. Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6y ago> Just like there are a myriad ways to 'book a hotel room' - there'd be a myriad was to book your '6 room place'. I doubt that. I'm not sure I can justify my doubt, but I doubt it. Also, the "myriad ways to book a hotel room" works only because more or less every hotel is on more or less every such way of doing it.
- jariel 6y agoThere are a myriad of ways to book hotels right now. There's no reason, that with more open regulatory scnearios, there wouldn't be a myriad ways to 'book your 6 room flat'. Or rather, you could have the option to list with a few. AirBnB 'broke through' into a market that didn't quite exist, partly because it's literally illegal in most places. Very few landlords allow subleasing rooms as well. Both AirBnB and Uber created a market in a 'regulatory grey area' so they kind of developed a marketplace monopoly. If that gray area did not exist previously, AirBnB and Uber would not have had the power to break through and dominate.
- lifeisstillgood 6y agoAbsolutely this. These companies have a weird human shield - that prosecuting individual house owners or drivers has little tin no impact on the supply (whereas it would have a huge impact on a normal commercial supply) - so the usual weapon regulatory bodies have is simply useless.
- jariel 6y agoIf regulators wanted to actually go after AirBnB they could do it directly, it's a matter of political will. It really demonstrated the absurdity and borderline incompetence of a lot of regulatory entities: both Uber and AirBnB operate out in the open even where it's essentially illegal. The Hotel industry lobbies to keep the rules in their favour - and none of us are winners really. Accommodation rules should probably be opened up somewhat, AirBnB has provided overwhelming evidence of a supply/demand mismatch. The taxi industry is considerably more difficult to redress because the cities have already sold medallions.