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Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

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Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#191

Post by wanderr »

BMorearty wrote: post #189
wanderr wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Airbnb employee I hope you don't mind feature requests. ;) I have severe animal allergies, so using Airbnb is quite annoying for me, there's a way to filter for places that allow pets but not the inverse. Every time I try to use Airbnb I have to look at tons of places to find one that doesn't have or allow pets. It would be really awesome to be able to just eliminate pet places from my search.

I don't mind at all. ;-) That sounds like it would be helpful to a lot of people. I'll pass that suggestion to the right team. You can also suggest it yourself since suggestions directly from customers mean a lot. Go to https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback and choose "Traveling / Finding a place" as your feedback category.

I did that a few years ago so I'm hoping you have better luck. ;)

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#192

Post by jseliger »

mschuster91 wrote: post #157
jseliger wrote: post #94

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. It's a problem. The real problem here is not Airbnb, which is a symptom; it's zoning, which forbids market-clearing prices and a sufficient number of units to satisfy demand for living in and visiting the city. For more on this, see e.g. Matt Yglesias's The Rent is Too Damn High : https://www.am…

> it's zoning, which forbids market-clearing prices and a sufficient number of units to satisfy demand for living in and visiting the city. lol tourists and rich investors/other rich undesirables are ALWAYS going to outprice the lower and middle tiers, you need massive amounts of regulation to prevent rich-people-only city areas.

lol tourists and rich investors/other rich undesirables are ALWAYS going to outprice the lower and middle tiers, you need massive amounts of regulation to prevent rich-people-only city areas.

Really? Was that true in the 1970s or 80s? https://jakeseliger.com/2015/12/27/why-did-cities-freeze-in-... If not, what might have changed between then and now?

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#193

Post by nerdponx »

trevyn wrote: post #18
nerdponx wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a problem because it abuses/avoids zoning laws and is generally disingenuous, making it hard to conduct public policy and regulate markets.

Ah, ok, so it's a problem for some people. It's a problem for me that regulation and zoning increases the cost of living. Now we're even. :-)

AFAIK, uncontrolled AirBnB usage is directly contributing to rising rents in SF and Toronto. It cuts both ways.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#194

Post by dabei »

nostrademons wrote: post #110
reza_n wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It converts long term housing stock into short term housing, which benefits tourists with cheaper prices and increases the price for residents since both are competing for the same units. Basically, tourists are getting a free ride on the backs of residents. Its always been the other way around, tourists pay extra taxes and fees which go back to the city (and residents) and entrepreneurs build hotels which once again…

The economic response to this (and I'm not saying I agree...I don't have a horse in this race either way) is that a tourist's willingness to pay for accommodation exceeds a resident's, and so they should get the apartment. And the apartment owner can turn around and capture this surplus by renting out their accommodations to tourists on AirBnB. The market price for housing is artificially low in most municipalities b…

Indeed interesting to think about the end game. Let's suppose the Airbnb's end game is desirable for the society. But the process of getting there means a lot of people who love their home have to move away because the location is highly desirable for tourists. Is that fair to these people? If not, maybe we should aim for a different end game.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#195

Post by user5994461 »

smsm42 wrote: post #82
reza_n wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It converts long term housing stock into short term housing, which benefits tourists with cheaper prices and increases the price for residents since both are competing for the same units. Basically, tourists are getting a free ride on the backs of residents. Its always been the other way around, tourists pay extra taxes and fees which go back to the city (and residents) and entrepreneurs build hotels which once again…

I remember NY housing prices were not so friendly way before Airbnb. In fact, a number of sitcoms set in New York feature the topic prominently. Is there any data that Airbnb made the problem substantially worse?

Housing is a disaster in every major city and price have been going up almost 10% a year for a while. AirBnb hardly has any influence on that.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#196

Post by BMorearty »

wanderr wrote: post #191
BMorearty wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mind at all. ;-) That sounds like it would be helpful to a lot of people. I'll pass that suggestion to the right team. You can also suggest it yourself since suggestions directly from customers mean a lot. Go to https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback and choose "Traveling / Finding a place" as your feedback category.

I did that a few years ago so I'm hoping you have better luck. ;)

Ok I'm working on finding the right team to send this request to.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#197

Post by stale2002 »

brianwawok wrote: post #135
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Maybe. Or maybe we just dont want to share a wall with a hotel. I know i dont.

You wouldn't have to if zoning laws allowed people to build taller buildings.

Airbnb is a hack that exists because the current market is completely unsustainable.

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#198

Post by bradleyjg »

tptacek wrote: post #186
closeparen wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. There is a plausible change that would remove the impetus to do so. I don't think anyone is suggesting that zoning should endorse Airbnb-style "hotels," but that maybe it should fix the underlying problems instead of just patching the loophole.

That's a false dilemma. The problem we're discussing here is easily fixed by making short-term rentals in apartment and condo buildings unlawful, which is probably what will end up happening. There's nothing that says that can't happen independent of any other regulatory changes.

The problem we're discussing here is easily fixed by making short-term rentals in apartment and condo buildings unlawful

This is already the case in NYC. What's needed is enforcement.

Perhaps through the use of a RICO action with wire fraud predicates against Airbnb and its principals. Taking money in exchange for a room that the company knows or should know is not legally available may well constitute "obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or omitted facts."

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#199

Post by icebraining »

matt4077 wrote: post #151
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…

This isn't "sharing economy" anymore. The term was coined for what AirBnB and Uber may have originally been: lower transaction costs to capture the value of space/car seats that would otherwise go unused. That idea got a warm welcome because it's almost universally good; Not just for those buying and selling, but producing positive externalities along the way: more car sharing means less traffic and lower emissions e…

Only now their pay is 25% lower, and they no longer have health insurance and other benefits.

They never did. Taxi drivers were, and are, considered contractors, and have no benefits[1]. Also, not only did they earn little already, as they had to pay upfront to work, by renting the medallion from lovely people like Gene Freidman[2] - and the rates were already up to $85 per 12-hour shift back in '93.

Just read this NYT report of the life of NYC cab drivers, back in the "glorious" pre-Uber days: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/09/nyregion/driving-a-taxi-di...

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/29/labor...

[2] http://nypost.com/2017/06/07/taxi-king-arrested-for-scamming...

Re: Airbnb dominated by professional landlords

#200

Post by sillysaurus3 »

arkitaip wrote: post #146
cvsh wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is seeing someone new every three days an intrinsic wrong that we need to right with legislation?

Now you're just being obtuse on purpose.

Please don't take personal swipes at people.
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