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Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

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Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#141

Post by xapata »

pjc50 wrote: post #129
Fede_V wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wrap my mind around people that think that 'too many tourists' or 'too many jobs' are a problem. Those are 'problems' that most cities in the world would kill for: if we consider them problems it's because we are not nearly creative enough to take advantage of them. As a simple example: if we have too many tourists, give a progressive daily tax that's charged to every visitor that automatically includes museu…

> a progressive daily tax that's charged to every visitor Lots of places already have this as a "hotel tax" .. which AirBnb doesn't pay.

Not true. I've stayed in several places where an extra county-specific tax is imposed via AirBnB.

There may be some places which haven't yet arranged for AirBnB to pay the tax, but it isn't because AirBnB refuses. In fact, it may be because hotels in that area are still holding out for the possibility of banning AirBnB. When AirBnB starts paying hotel taxes, it becomes nearly impossible to remove.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#142

Post by star-castle »

icebraining wrote: post #49
EStudley wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. I have had every experience you explained with Uber. People driving me weird ways around my city to make the trip longer, rude, attempting to add a cleaning charge with no reason, or the classic "Hey if you cancel the ride and give me $10 I can get you there."

What happened when you complained to Uber?

How? Uber is a current-year tech company. Like Google, there technically is a support line that technically exists, but just forget about it.

I called Uber 10 times, in Houston. Got scammed 5 times. Part of the "the driver just keeps driving and never acknowledges letting you out of the car" scam is that the app takes the same approach to "uh, I'm not in the car anymore" as it does to "uh, I would like to complain to Uber". (The way to say that the ride has ended is to cancel the trip, an operation that feels like you're trying to scam the driver, so an honest person will avoid doing that while searching for the nonexistent "the ride has ended" UI.)

4/5 scams: the driver goes past your position and then waits a mile down the road to pick you up. The moment the driver was near, Uber switches to "ok go get in the car" mode. It never switches out of it. If you cancel, rather than hike an unreasonable distance to catch the car that deliberately drove past you, then Uber charges you $5.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#143

Post by xapata »

Sangermaine wrote: post #128
Fede_V wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wrap my mind around people that think that 'too many tourists' or 'too many jobs' are a problem. Those are 'problems' that most cities in the world would kill for: if we consider them problems it's because we are not nearly creative enough to take advantage of them. As a simple example: if we have too many tourists, give a progressive daily tax that's charged to every visitor that automatically includes museu…

>I can't wrap my mind around people that think that 'too many tourists' or 'too many jobs' are a problem. Step outside of theoretical economic thought experiments and try living in a formerly quiet neighborhood or building suddenly experiencing an influx of loud drunk littering assholes. Residential areas are desired as residential areas for a reason. I live in NYC and sure as hell don't want to live around Times Squ…

The correct way to handle those problems is to enforce noise and litter regulations. If your owner-neighbor is rowdy, it's no different than if their guests are rowdy.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#144

Post by soperj »

StavrosK wrote: post #139
xevb3k wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels suck for families is what the comment is trying to say I think. With young kids, you often what your own cooking/food preparation facilities. Sleep arrangements are often easier in a house too. Ironically, it seems like hotels with food preparation areas are more common in Japan (weekly mansion/business type hotels).

Yes, but I'm saying "AirBnB sucks for people living in the city" and you're saying "it's great for if you want to travel there".

> the market worked very well before it

That's specifically what I was replying to.

I live(and rent) in a city that is tourist based and less affordable because of airb&b and the like. It has a vacancy rate of under 1%. So i completely understand what you're saying. I just disagree that the market for staying somewhere worked well before airb&b.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#145

Post by xapata »

StavrosK wrote: post #140
robertAngst wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like those cities do not have an educated/skilled workforce. Sure there are spots near the Roman forum you would expect to have lots of tourists(basically inside the Aurellian walls). But outside of that its a 20+ minute drive for a tourist to popular areas. If a 50$ airbnb is beating out a $1,000/mo rent its because people cannot afford $1000 in rent. We host an airbnb ourselves, lots of business travele…

I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but nobody is going to be able to afford to pay hotel rates for their permanent residence.

Depends on the kind of hotel. And after the market settles, hotel rates may not be as high.

A key aspect of hotel rates is that they fluctuate with demand. When you come into town for the big event, the rates may be 4 times higher than staying on a cold, boring night. A long-term stay will be much cheaper per-night than a nightly rate.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#146

Post by pteredactyl »

a_t48 wrote: post #50

That's a bit of a shame. I get where they are coming from, but the place in Ueno my girlfriend and I rented out was cute and we didn't hold any wild parties, even if I did get the evil eye from some old guy in a convenience store.

Agreed it's a bummer for people who are chill and looking to see another side of a place.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#147

Post by eanzenberg »

StavrosK wrote: post #115
Fede_V wrote: post #102

I think this is an interesting and unintended consequence of AirBnB not investing nearly on filtering their users. AirBnB obviously was interested in getting their product used by as many people as people (growth at all costs) - but this had the effect of getting a lot of young, cost conscious people to take holidays in area that were traditionally residential. While most AirBnB renters are polite and respectful, eno…

No, sorry. AirBnB is creating immense problems in tourist destinations, to the point where people in major cities in Greece (and other countries) are having trouble finding affordable permanent housing. Barcelona and Rome are overrun with tourists, and it's killing the cities. AirBnB should just go away, the market worked very well before it, even if things were a bit more expensive.

>> the market worked very well before it

You mean during the recession?

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#149

Post by pteredactyl »

fiblye wrote: post #51
poisonarena wrote: post #3

I understand all the ramifications in certain cities where the housing prices are getting effected by airbnb, but I think in this case it is just the Hotels strong arming because they were losing business and the Olympics are coming. I am a budget traveler and low income remote worker and I really am glad I got to slide in before airbnb got shafted. It's a shame that I now have to choose between hostels and overprice…

A lot of people don't notice it, but Japanese apartments and houses have paper-thin walls with no insulation. People may think they're being quiet because they don't hear the person next door (since people generally live here knowing that they should avoid being noisy). But no, blasting music from your phone speakers, stomping around in your boots, throwing your bag on the floor, and sparking up a blunt is shit every…

Yea but the parent post said they're bummed because the people you described ruined it for him/her.

Re: Nearly 80% of Japan’s Airbnbs removed in response to new home-share law

#150

Post by prolepunk »

robertAngst wrote: post #124
StavrosK wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, sorry. AirBnB is creating immense problems in tourist destinations, to the point where people in major cities in Greece (and other countries) are having trouble finding affordable permanent housing. Barcelona and Rome are overrun with tourists, and it's killing the cities. AirBnB should just go away, the market worked very well before it, even if things were a bit more expensive.

This sounds like those cities do not have an educated/skilled workforce. Sure there are spots near the Roman forum you would expect to have lots of tourists(basically inside the Aurellian walls). But outside of that its a 20+ minute drive for a tourist to popular areas. If a 50$ airbnb is beating out a $1,000/mo rent its because people cannot afford $1000 in rent. We host an airbnb ourselves, lots of business travele…

Blame the poor for existing and inconveniencing the tourists, not the new economic factors introduced by AirBnB.
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