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Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

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Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#111

Post by quuquuquu »

gist wrote: post #80
santoshalper wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because, like Uber, for customers it is a massive improvement over the alternative. I am taking my family to Atlanta next week for my son's birthday. Using AirBNB (or equivalent service) saved me well over $1500 for the trip - we would have needed three hotel rooms but rented a house instead. As an added bonus, instead of all that money going to a large corporation, it will go to an individual. The level of myopia he…

> Using AirBNB (or equivalent service) saved me well over $1500 for the trip - we would have needed three hotel rooms but rented a house instead. Travel and entertainment is not one of life's necessities. It doesn't outweigh the negative impact of airbnb. > As an added bonus, instead of all that money going to a large corporation, it will go to an individual. Why in the world does that matter at all? Are you saying t…

>re: travel and entertainment is not one of life's necessities

neither are steak, chicken, lobster, toilet paper, SUVs, TVs, rockets to space, streaming movies, fireworks...

and yet the production and consumption of these things carry personal and societal risks.

who are we to judge, unfortunately?

>re: have not received any value from a large corporation?

I think what the poster is saying there is that he receives value from smaller individual landlords and from large corporations-

-but that they would prefer if it went to individual landlords because they might be a better steward to the community than a corporation

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#112

Post by extra88 »

archagon wrote: post #77
3pt14159 wrote: post #51

Look, we have a couple problems: low interest rates, large variance in productivity / earnings, really shitty hotels because they're operating on old-world assumptions. One under appreciated thing about apps like Uber and AirBnb is the star rating system. I know I'm a five star tenant. I know I never shit in the sink. I know I never leave a bunch of condoms or cigar butts all over the balcony or hotel room. But the h…

Airbnb is one of those rare products that cracked open an entire world of possibilities for me. For the first time, I've gotten the chance to live as a local all around the world, for even less money than at a hotel or sometimes even a hostel. Ordinary folks just didn't travel like this in the past, getting to know distant cities right from the ground floor. Adjustments should be made on a city-to-city basis, but you…

I think the market for shared accommodations will never be very big and the presence of an owner/tenant can keep neighbor-affecting bad behavior in check.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#113

Post by AnthonyMouse »

jmcgough wrote: post #38
choxi wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a problem, or what problems has it been causing in NYC? I understand the legality is questionable but I don't know why the laws exist in the first place.

Because it further reduces the number of homes available for people to actually live (which is why we have zoning laws), which inflates rent/housing prices. This forces the bottom rung out of the city, because they can't afford to live there, and now minimum wage jobs (which we need to run the services people want) can't be filled, artists and musicians disappear, and the city becomes a place only for tourists and th…

> Because it further reduces the number of homes available for people to actually live (which is why we have zoning laws), which inflates rent/housing prices.

The argument that zoning laws reduce housing costs is backwards.

The only reason people want to convert long-term housing to short-term rentals is bad zoning that has led to a shortage (and thus high prices) of short-term rentals.

The solution to that, as is the solution to high housing costs in general, is to build more housing.

Which is the thing zoning laws stand in the way of.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#114

Post by secabeen »

wcummings wrote: post #93
BMorearty wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A whole apartment/house does have some amenities that aren't in a decent hotel, though. Like a kitchen. Or enough beds for a group of 5. I appreciate those when traveling on a budget and/or with my family. - Airbnb employee.

Extended stay hotels will offer rooms with a kitchens, and can accommodate a family of 5, maybe just not for a price you like. Just be honest and say you like it cause its cheaper and you think your vacation is more important than the needs of residents.

That has not been my experience. Extended stay hotels do offer kitchens, but they are almost universally still studio units. Outside of the condominiums available in true vacation-only destinations (Maui, Vail, etc.) rental accommodation seems to be built to meet the needs of business travelers, and family travel is largely ignored.

AirBNB clearly identified a market under-served by the existing hotel industry.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#115

Post by matt_wulfeck »

meddlepal wrote: post #107
Jabanga wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Put me in the camp that's very anti-AirBnB as a resident who doesn't want where I lived turned into a hotel. I live in NYC. You're simply demonstrating NIMBYism. You get to stay in one of the most geographically desirable locations in the world and in order to pay lower rent you want to prevent others who live in much less geographically desirable places from renting units in your locale so that they can get to enjo…

NIMBYism isn't inherently bad.

You're right: it's extremely lucrative for the incumbents.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#116

Post by futurix »

cabaalis wrote: post #74
sisyphusprotege wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the kind of pluck and industriousness that made this country great.

Thank you, somebody who gets it. "But my neighbors are complaining!" has somehow trumped "It's my property." in the modern age. If neighbors don't like what their neighborhood is becoming, they should move. Aside from homeowners group contracts, a person should be able to do as they wish with what they own. I'd bet that's the feeling of a good majority of people on this site regarding computer equipment and personal…

False equivalence.

Unlike with personal electronics, real estate typically does not exist in a bubble and affects lives of other people living nearby.

Both you and your neighbours would be affected by noise or lack of trash disposal.

If the people in the flat upstairs would flood their flat, the flats below would be flooded and damaged too.

If your neighbours don't like what their neighbourhood is becoming - they have the same right to decide what it should be as you do.

"Do as I wish" has limits in human communities.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#117

Post by djsumdog »

wepple wrote: post #90
santoshalper wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because, like Uber, for customers it is a massive improvement over the alternative. I am taking my family to Atlanta next week for my son's birthday. Using AirBNB (or equivalent service) saved me well over $1500 for the trip - we would have needed three hotel rooms but rented a house instead. As an added bonus, instead of all that money going to a large corporation, it will go to an individual. The level of myopia he…

> As an added bonus, instead of all that money going to a large corporation, it will go to an individual. Give it a couple of years and professional landlords using AirBNB will look no different to a corporation.

This person may have not given their money to an individual home owner. It could have been a landlord that operated several houses and acted like they are renting out thier home or vacation spot. It's really impossible to tell.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#118

Post by andmarios »

Jabanga wrote: post #102
cletus wrote: post #17

Put me in the camp that's very anti-AirBnB as a resident who doesn't want where I lived turned into a hotel. I live in NYC. It's a problem. None of this is a surprise, so much so that AirBnB seems to be aware of this and is acting in a way that's, at best, ethically challenged and, at worst, illegal eg deleting listings before giving data to the state of NY that "shows" most hosts only have one unit [1]. If people wa…

>Put me in the camp that's very anti-AirBnB as a resident who doesn't want where I lived turned into a hotel. I live in NYC. You're simply demonstrating NIMBYism. You get to stay in one of the most geographically desirable locations in the world and in order to pay lower rent you want to prevent others who live in much less geographically desirable places from renting units in your locale so that they can get to enjo…

Or, maybe, he just want the people living on the other side of his bedroom wall to be some stable neighbors and not seeing someone new every three days.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#119

Post by user5994461 »

learc83 wrote: post #109
user5994461 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't mean they are more lucrative. Property can be empty half the time and Airbnb takes a massive commission on the earnings.

It must be more lucrative, because as this article said, Airbnb is dominated by professional landlords. If it wasn't more lucrative, those profession landlords would still be renting out long term instead of migrating to Airbnb.

"Professional landlords" doesn't even mean anything.

The landlords on AirBnb are a small fraction of all the landlords in the rental market.

It's entirely possible that there is a massive churn of properties. Landlord try AirBnb a few months and revert back to long term renting because it was much hassle and not as much profitable.

I for one, have noticed that.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#120

Post by [deleted] »

kohanz wrote: post #6
trevyn wrote: post #4

This is not a problem. In my experience, professional landlords & managers offer clean, updated apartments that are a joy to check into and are a way better place to stay than hotels. I love using Airbnb for specifically this reason. It seems like in Europe, professional short-term apartment rental is a common thing anyway -- Airbnb just serves as a centralized listing platform. This is less common in the US.

I agree that I don't really see what the problem is. Curious that AirBnB would deny it though. Does it hurt their brand?

[deleted]
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