Airbnb's impact on cities
theguardian.com
Airbnb's impact on cities
1–10 of 153 posts
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#2Airbnb is definitely not the analogy of Uber. It's extremely expensive service - prices of dirty rooms with old furniture are higher than in 4-stars apart-hotels. In city I live (Saint Petersburg) price for room in Airbnb is 8-9 times higher than on local sites. And I tried to find room in Rome, Prague, Barcelona - every time Airbnb was more expensive than good hotels.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#3I am also becoming wary of using airbnb, for some of the reasons mentioned here. I did meet some great hosts, but at other times I felt I would have been better off e.g. in a hostel.
Also, people who care about hosting and getting to know travelers could just sign up to Couchsurfing or Hospitalityclub, which strangely don't seem to be booming.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#4I'm staying longer term in BCN for a month and a half and accidentally ended up at an outdoor concert last night before realizing that it was protesting tourists. "Tourism kills the city" was the slogan on the signs around the area. In 2 weeks, I've seen at least 2 demonstrations like this and it seems to be picking up from previous years that I've been here. Things are a little more crowded and I feel like every day there's a bachelor / bachelorette party running around - the density of which reminds me of vegas.
I like to think that I blend in more than most tourists - the ones you see in groups of 8 with 2-3 roller bags each fumbling for the keys and trying to make sure they find the right building - but I'm probably biased.
I'm not sure what BCN's solution will be. Tourism is 12-15% of their economy in Catalonia, so it's not a small chunk for a country with 20% unemployment rate. The hotel options aren't great for what you pay for. AirBnB is definitely cheaper (and usually roomier), but it's a difference when you notice that all your neighbors in "old town" are german / british tourists that pop in for a weekend and then leave. Barcelona does have an ordinance that you can only rent rooms for longer than 30 days - so they have people that come around on occasion to check - but I think it's sort of hit & miss enforcement.
I'm not sure I have answers as much as questions - and it's interesting being on the ground zero and seeing this take place.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#5I'm staying longer term in BCN for a month and a half and accidentally ended up at an outdoor concert last night before realizing that it was protesting tourists. "Tourism kills the city" was the slogan on the signs around the area. In 2 weeks, I've seen at least 2 demonstrations like this and it seems to be picking up from previous years that I've been here. Things are a little more crowded and I feel like every day…
Catalonia is not only Barcelona. In Barcelona tourism is about third of city's income, so protests like this are ridiculous. Noisy tourists are usually in hotels/hostels. And I have to say locals sometimes are more noisy than tourists.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#6Airbnb is definitely not the analogy of Uber. It's extremely expensive service - prices of dirty rooms with old furniture are higher than in 4-stars apart-hotels. In city I live (Saint Petersburg) price for room in Airbnb is 8-9 times higher than on local sites. And I tried to find room in Rome, Prague, Barcelona - every time Airbnb was more expensive than good hotels.
>... every time Airbnb was more expensive than good hotels.
Really? I thought the whole point of airbnb was to get accommodation for less.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#7Here in Dublin, Ireland, rents are exploding, mostly because of a severe shortage in apartments, and it's a fair question to ask if AirBnB is partially to blame. From [1]:
> The average rental value of a two-bed apartment in the city centre at €2,000 per month, less a management fee, would equate to the apartment being occupied for just 120 nights of the year through Airbnb.
> Investors have confirmed that if correctly managed, the income can be double that of a long-term rental.
(AirBnB disagrees [2])
As much as I like the idea of AirBnB, their impact on the housing market in any given city needs to be considered. Unfortunately the article doesn't mention that at all, focussing solely on tourism.
[1] http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/property... [2] http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/airbnb-insists...
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#8There is explosion of cheap flight tickets.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#9The bigger question is, why should I create new houses and apartments when I just can raise the rent?
Right, no one would and no one will.
Without the state intervening we will have a lot of new york cities around the globe.
Re: Airbnb's impact on cities
#10Airbnb is definitely not the analogy of Uber. It's extremely expensive service - prices of dirty rooms with old furniture are higher than in 4-stars apart-hotels. In city I live (Saint Petersburg) price for room in Airbnb is 8-9 times higher than on local sites. And I tried to find room in Rome, Prague, Barcelona - every time Airbnb was more expensive than good hotels.
>... every time Airbnb was more expensive than good hotels. Really? I thought the whole point of airbnb was to get accommodation for less.
I don't understand it either. But it is kinda true.
After trying to rent a room for my family from oversee and i got rejected every time. I found something like four times cheaper here.
And this was like an hour away from a big city where I looked...
I don't understand it either.
But maybe that's where we are heading everywhere.
Appeal only to the rich. One customer a month is better than four or five.