AirBNB essentially made it easier to operate shadow hotels that are not bound to the same rules and regulations as real hotels. For a long time you could even g

AirBNB essentially made it easier to operate shadow hotels that are not bound to the same rules and regulations as real hotels. For a long time you could even get away with not paying taxes on your rentals since Airbnb was not cooperating with local governments. At the same time, low interest rates made it possible for individuals to leverage up on real estate and suck up valuable housing supply from precisely the kind of places that needs it the most - popular cities where tourists like to go. Cheaper rooms also added to the boom of tourism by making it possible for more tourists to travel to said cities. I see this as a regulatory failure. Airbnb's objective was to move fast and break things, and they broke the social contract and allowed people to sidestep the process required to become a hotel.