“The government knows how to segregate us properly” And “Everything will be cheaper by limiting people the ability to trade”
I find it sad how prevalent this mentality is. the cost to technology and progress is immeasurably vast.
Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
71–80 of 332 posts
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
That seems reasonable. The social good of AirBnB is lowering the barrier to increase property utilization. Classifying people into commercial and "sometimes" renters makes sense. If you want your business to be bigger, comply with more regulations.
> increase property utilization This implies that rent should rise to meet nightly AirBnb rates, which has all sorts of implications ..
Yes, the most obvious of which is "build more [high-density] housing."
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
You say "entrepreneur", but I don't see anything wrong with the approach -- as long as you follow the laws. Often the solution the the problem is that you start buying the properties rather than renting them, which means profits per unit will be (much) higher (but you will also need additional capital to support that). Or you buy an entire block with 5 or 10 apartments; then there should be no complaints.
Because it's literally rent-seeking and leeches wealth from the economy, jacking up prices while contributing nothing?
Of course they do - they manage a place that visitors can stay in. Which is why people pay them. And you're clearly not a landlord if you think it involves no effort.
Sure, if a society thinks they cause more harm than good, by all means, ban them, but that's a different argument.
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#74They'll probably be back after registering. The new law is pretty reasonable and AirBnB is actually following it. This is how this is supposed to work.
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#75Good riddance. I live in rented accommodation in Japan. A couple of years ago an Airbnb was set up next door and it was a nightmare. People coming and going at all hours, large groups of drunk holiday-makers having loud parties into the night, drinking and smoking on the balcony. After multiple calls to the owner of the apartment and the police the situation was finally resolved. I definitely think Airbnb should have…
It's really sad that AirBnB is used by most people as a cheap resort, and expect to have a resort-like experience at the expense of the local neighborhood who has no desire to live next to one.
Can we just have home-share for people that understand how to be good neighbors, pretty please?
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#76That's a great example that clearly demonstrates that local law can be enforced, even on companies like AirBnb. I hear lots of arguments on "You can't enforce the ban", but it's simpler than ever to just do that.
If the government can order the service they can always fine the provisioner. Uber tried their shit with Quebec, then two drivers had their cars impounded and that was the end of that.
foolish and regressive. enjoy higher DUI rates, less service and less availability. for what its worth, i've been taking uber and lyft in quebec for years.
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> increase property utilization This implies that rent should rise to meet nightly AirBnb rates, which has all sorts of implications ..
Yes, the most obvious of which is "build more [high-density] housing."
I'm generally in favour of this, but "build more tall buildings in a World Heritage Site to satisfy the temporary demand of tourists" isn't going to be popular. Japan of course is already full of high-density housing.
(Edinburgh is building housing, but lots of it is suburban low-density)
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the approach taken in London: Anyone can AirBnB their property, but only for 90 days a year, unless you have special permission. This prevents people buying up/renting flats just to let them out on AirBnB and putting pressure on the already cripplingly bad housing situation.
>putting pressure on the already cripplingly bad housing situation. No amount of demand suppression will ever fix a supply issue. “We’re better off not building up housing infrastructure subsidized by short term leases and just trying to suppress any demand that changes the market clearing price”
I do wonder sometimes that after another decade or so of housing prices people will start demanding internal passports to prevent people moving to their city.
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
How so? If the rule was applicable from June 15th, it is surprising that it's being enforced before that date, no?
The authorities would know if a flood of license approvals about to happen before the 15th. But surely there’s not, and on the 15th these units become illegal. Two weeks notice seems much more fair to travelers than waiting till the 15th and cancelling. Rules are followed in Japan. Allowing a grace period for unlicensed rentals was really fair of them.
Your opinion on the fairness of the new order is immaterial to whether Airbnb is feigning surprise the rule is being enforced. They are not.
Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah. There's effectively never been Uber or similar in Japan either. People just respect regulations and they generally do work very well.
I'm European, and in general I like (well thought out) regulations, but in the case of the taxi industry Uber is actually not a bad guy but a huge blessing. In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. Uber takes all of this away. The rating system ensures drivers are polite. The estimate € (plus route tracking) ensures they don't take the sceni…
It took some real talent on the part of Uber to get so many people to view them so negatively. I think most of us are at least a bit sympathetic to some of their early rule-breaking given how entrenched the existing cab companies were and how bad they were in many cases.
As you say, there are a lot of things to dislike about Uber as a tech company and I try not to use them. (And I don't actually use cabs/Uber/Lyft all that much in spite of doing a lot of travel.) But they've definitely made it easier for people to get around in many cities.
AirBnB's market, on the other hand, wasn't really broken even if the (legitimate) short-term rental agencies were more fragmented and less modern than they could have been.