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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

#171

Post by Barrin92 »

wallace_f wrote: post #40
Razengan wrote: post #28

This Redditor offers one plausible cause/reason [0]: > This may not be a popular opinion here but I totally understand the concern. There had been a huge increase in transient international visitors being introduced to residential areas that previously did not have to deal with that. Having a constant stream of strangers coming and going in your building is not something many residents feel comfortable with. Also: >…

That's a valid concern. But seems to be something better handled by local ordinances and not the sort of thing a national government shoulf need to drop the hammer down on... In my opinion.

Every neighbourhood passing their own legislation or rules would be an absolute nightmare for Airbnb because there would be no regulatory clarity at all.

One very good thing about Japanese housing legislation is that it happens at the national level. It prevents a lot of issues you have in the United States.

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

#172

Post by distances »

StavrosK wrote: post #137
Thriptic wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to this problem in tourist destinations or Europe generally as I don't have enough data to have an opinion, but I frequently see Airbnb blamed for high housing costs in some American cities and it strikes me as being a bunch of bullshit. Sure Airbnb doesn't help the rental problem and it is a contributor to rising rents, but the primary problem isn't Airbnb, it's lack of supply of high density apartment…

The situation in Greece is very different, as everything is a highrise (sadly, because we tore down a lot of beautiful centuries-old antique villas to do that). The situation used to be much better, but the start of the problem coincides suspiciously with the rise of AirBnB, and you'd expect housing prices to drop in a recession, not rise. That's why I think it's fair to blame AirBnB for that. We'll see what happens…

But apartments in Athens are very affordable still, aren't they?

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

#173

Post by JohnTHaller »

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…

"AirBnB is already very strict with landlords"

Does AirBnB ensure that the landlord/owner is properly licensed to offer the property for a short term rental before listing it? Or do they just take the landlord's word for it?

"While most AirBnB renters are polite and respectful, enough of them were loud, disruptive and ignoring the local rules (for example, tourists in Venice who use AirBnB but ignore the very strict garbage disposal laws) that local residents started dreading having AirBnBs around."

A short term renter in an unlicensed business operating next door to you in your residential apartment building is necessarily going to be louder, less safe, and cause more issues than a long term neighbor. I rent a residential apartment in a residential building on a residential street. I did not rent a hotel room for a year next to other hotel rooms.

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

#174

Post by kazinator »

Fede_V wrote: post #123
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.

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…

> Those are 'problems' that most cities in the world would kill for

Yes, starting with killing affordability for their citizens.

> build more housing for local residents

But where? 50 km out of town, so they, too, can experience tourism on a daily basis.

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

#175

Post by gojomo »

Fede_V wrote: post #160
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…

Let me flesh out a few very simple proposals: a complaint that a lot of city residents have is that tourists that arrive in a city don't spend a lot of money there because they pack their own lunches/avoid museums, etc. How about charging a very high tax (in the form of a voucher) for hotel/AirBnB stays, but make that voucher spendable in local restaurants/museums? This would have the bonus that you'd also kill the l…

This is the 1st time I've heard the complaint that tourists don't spend money. Where is that a oft-expressed concern?

I suspect any voucher system like you propose would just create a secondary gray market in slightly-discounted vouchers.

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

#176

Post by danudey »

indigochill wrote: post #167
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…

In Reykjavik "too many tourists" is very much a problem. Or more specifically, the ratio of tourists to available housing. Sure, there are solutions. There's a huge housing bubble right now (which will collapse whenever tourism dries up), for instance. Maybe if it keeps on this way some legislation will be passed to get it under control. But both of those solutions are completely out of the hands of the people who ac…

It's a huge problem in Vancouver, as well. There's a huge housing crisis here, and there's a lot of factors involved, but real estate speculation and short-term rentals are substantial contributors.

There was a woman at a city council meeting a few years ago who lived in a building with around 10 units, and she said six of them were on AirBnB. When ever she checked, their (small) pool always had people in it she'd never seen before, and never would again. People buy places to live in and make a life in, and then half the building is party people.

For what it's worth, this has always made us extremely wary of AirBnB, and we do a lot of research for cities we visit before we rent an AirBnB somewhere. In Montreal they're regulated, so we had no problem there. In Reykjavik, we rented from a woman who was staying at her mother's place to take care of her pets while she (her mother) was out of the country, so our stay wasn't depriving anyone of housing.

Other places we go, where AirBnB isn't as well regulated, we're very particular and tend to go for hotels (e.g. Ottawa, Seattle) because we're very aware of how bad these kinds of systems can be for people.

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

#177

Post by [deleted] »

Xylakant wrote: post #165
xapata wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Neighbor stays and is subject to enforcement, AirBnB guest leaves and isn’t.

[deleted]

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

#178

Post by danudey »

Xylakant wrote: post #165
xapata wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Neighbor stays and is subject to enforcement, AirBnB guest leaves and isn’t.

AirBnB pays the fine, because they can afford to because they just made hundreds off the guests that littered and made a mess so they can chalk the fares up as the cost of doing business.

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

#179

Post by John_KZ »

krapp wrote: post #21
jorvi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>In a lot of countries (80%+) taxi drivers are rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes. Made up percentages don't count as credible data, unless you can cite the objective and peer-reviewed analysis that demonstrates that over 80% of taxi drivers are "rude, try to price gouge, try to scam you or try to take longer routes," you're just trying to disguise your opinion as fact. Which is fi…

There's no point in denying that the majority of cab drivers were more rude and scammy 10 years ago. They were, and in some places they still are.

But in my opinion, Uber was not even close to the top reason for the improvement you see. It was mobile navigation, more organized taxi companies, including internal rating systems and more often inspections, and job insecurity. Uber definitely helped with job insecurity. Personally I'd rather have a somewhat annoying driver that talks on hands-free the entire ride over a smiling quiet driver that can't make ends meet and his livelihood depends on a couple of ratings. There's a good compromise somewhere between the two ends but it's not like we weren't in the former end for a long time. Taxi licenses were extremely expensive, fares were extortionate and you got scammed immediately if you looked out of place.

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

#180

Post by nacho2sweet »

Fede_V wrote: post #123
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.

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…

Being a tourist and tourism is a luxury. Having affordable housing is a right.
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