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Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

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Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#31

Post by TheHypnotist »

mbostleman wrote: post #24
matchbok wrote: post #15

AirBnb is a terrible, terrible company. Most of their money comes from corporate-owned mini-hotels yet they advertise as a mom and pop shop. At every turn their solution is to sue small towns and cities so they can continue to extract wealth from our neighborhoods. Disgusting.

What is a corporate owned mini-hotel? I am a fairly frequent Airbnb consumer and I have yet to stay somewhere that wasn't mom and pop.

There are a few mini-hotels - properties with more than one room. How many are corporate owned is undetermined. This guy is just bitter about something, perhaps rightfully so.

Or maybe just vote manipulation.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#32

Post by mbostleman »

jak92 wrote: post #4

Just look at the havoc being reigned on some neighborhoods in Miami Beach during spring break. Specifically the low-scale, residential flamingo park neighborhood of south beach.

First, Miami Beach is a heavily tourist influenced market similar to where I live near Jackson Hole, WY. If you live or invest in a market like that you are doing so with full knowledge of the pros and cons of such an environment. The differences in your environment there don't start and stop with short term rentals.

Second, whatever the problem is (I assume rowdy, drunken college students?), it's a human behavior problem, not a problem with a service that enables value exchange like Airbnb.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#33

Post by openbasic »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #19
openbasic wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, let's force citizens to bow to their government masters and pay their "fair" share, while Big Hotel lobbies away, competes unfairly and gets huge tax benefits.

Yeah, let's force community residents to deal with noise and parties and the increased cost of housing brought by AirBnb while allowing AirBnb and their billionaire investors to make a lot of money while pushing off all the externalities on the communities.

Oh, so you're in favor of housing segregation by the government?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#34

Post by fifnir »

openbasic wrote: post #13
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #2

The more I look at AirBnb, it reality it seems like a conspiracy to enable illegal activity (illegal listings, not collecting taxes). I wonder if in the future, a US Attorney or State Attorney General will attempt to bring criminal charges against the principals of the company. The threat of real jail time would do wonders to get their attention.

Yeah, let's force citizens to bow to their government masters and pay their "fair" share, while Big Hotel lobbies away, competes unfairly and gets huge tax benefits.

Let's allow richer-than-us foreigners to come to our city, buy all the houses, and then keep them empty to make tax-free money through air-bnb.

Fuck the locals, there's tourists that want to enjoy the sun in the summer and arabs that need to invest their petrol dollars.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#35

Post by evanlivingston »

frontloadpro wrote: post #3

Edit, it was shut down because my local area has a rule against bed and breakfasts that aren't located on a main road. Our Airbnb got shut down after a year by the local government. It wasn't a safety thing, it was a competition thing. Our Red Roof Inn charges 60 a night, but we charged 80 a night. Our reviews could make me tear up. People saying they had the best stay of their life. Asking them what they wanted for…

Guests may have loved it, but did the neighbors love it? Did the people looking for long-term rental housing who found it difficult to find long-term rentals love it? Did the people looking to get into home-ownership only to find that residential real-estate prices were increasing now that residential properties were semi-commercial properties love it?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#36

Post by wykfuckoff »

dymk wrote: post #18
matchbok wrote: post #15

AirBnb is a terrible, terrible company. Most of their money comes from corporate-owned mini-hotels yet they advertise as a mom and pop shop. At every turn their solution is to sue small towns and cities so they can continue to extract wealth from our neighborhoods. Disgusting.

Source?

the article?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#37

Post by iandanforth »

This seems like an overly critical article. Zoning laws and NIMBY impulses should be fought tooth-and-nail and I'm glad Airbnb is doing so. The platform has allowed me to actually enjoy travel in ways I never could before.

What I feel like is missing is a communication path from the community to the platform. Because people start by calling the police to complain it immediately becomes a legal and local ordinance issue. If it were easy to report abuses to Airbnb directly, or if local police were instructed to contact them, the platform could better regulate itself.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#38

Post by TeMPOraL »

visarga wrote: post #28
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The illegal listing is not just about hotels, it is about neighbors who don't want to deal with vacationers and parties and disruption.

It seems they want to enjoy travelling to other cities while blocking other travellers from coming to their city. Same with Waze traffic being routed on previously less known streets.

No, they just want travelers to sleep in places designated for travelers. This wouldn't even be an issue if it wasn't a real problem - a well-behaved group of transients is near-unnoticeable in a neighbourhood and by definition doesn't disturb anybody.

Another problem is that the proliferation of this practice seems to be disturbing the already tense situation on the housing market. Meeting an odd couple from the other side of the world is fun. Realizing that you can't find affordable flat to buy in a city because a significant portion of it is scooped up for renting and short-term leases - that drives up societal discontent.

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#39

Post by keanebean86 »

pjc50 wrote: post #25
frontloadpro wrote: post #3

Edit, it was shut down because my local area has a rule against bed and breakfasts that aren't located on a main road. Our Airbnb got shut down after a year by the local government. It wasn't a safety thing, it was a competition thing. Our Red Roof Inn charges 60 a night, but we charged 80 a night. Our reviews could make me tear up. People saying they had the best stay of their life. Asking them what they wanted for…

There are a lot of cities where apartments have become AirBnBs, caused great disruption to their neighbours, and driven up rents. This has resulted in people demanding that Something Be Done.

Are people using airbnbs as apartments? I don't see how it drives rent up. There's a finite amount of tourism/visitors so they should only be competing with hotels. What am I missing here?

Edit: downvoted for asking a question you disagree with? What is this reddit?

Re: Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

#40

Post by duxup »

iandanforth wrote: post #37

This seems like an overly critical article. Zoning laws and NIMBY impulses should be fought tooth-and-nail and I'm glad Airbnb is doing so. The platform has allowed me to actually enjoy travel in ways I never could before. What I feel like is missing is a communication path from the community to the platform. Because people start by calling the police to complain it immediately becomes a legal and local ordinance iss…

>If it were easy to report abuses to Airbnb directly, or if local police were instructed to contact them, the platform could better regulate itself.

I don't think Airbnb really cares to do that... and that kinda is where the problems start in terms of what Airbnb is really all about.

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