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Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

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

#201

Post by chris11 »

dcosson wrote: post #113
duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

I mean, this just sounds to me like a pitch for AirBnB. They managed to solve this exact problem you're complaining about via the rating system and guests being attached to their real identity. The vast majority of AirBnB guests are very respectful and reasonable. As for your tight local control, fuck that. No, you shouldn't get to decide exactly what happens in your neighborhood just because you got there first. You…

I don't know about that. For awhile I was doing Airbnb while looking for a place. I had the worst rental experience ever. I ended up renting one bedroom in a two bedroom apartment. The people I was staying with weren't bad, or loud. But the person I was renting from had crammed another seven or eight people into the apartment. And one day I came back and found an eviction notice on the door. Apparently it was a rent controlled apartment, only one person was on the lease, and it wasn't the person I was paying. I'm assuming because they had already had several evictions on their records. One one hand I did rent from them, but there were physical issues with the property I found after I showed up.

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

#202

Post by ebiester »

dcosson wrote: post #113
duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

I mean, this just sounds to me like a pitch for AirBnB. They managed to solve this exact problem you're complaining about via the rating system and guests being attached to their real identity. The vast majority of AirBnB guests are very respectful and reasonable. As for your tight local control, fuck that. No, you shouldn't get to decide exactly what happens in your neighborhood just because you got there first. You…

So, this doesn't have to go to ad absurdum to become problematic. We depend on a social contract between people who live together to make things harmonious and not devolve into violence. (E.g. neighbors showing up with guns when a party gets too loud; or abstracting the violence, members of the neighborhood calling the cops on small infractions of the law.)

So, that gets back to the problem. AirBnB has not solved the problem because the people who are affected are the neighbors of the AirBnB. If the people renting the apartment are not in the apartment itself, they will give the guests 5 stars if the house is clean at the end. However, the neighbors might give that same guest 1 star because they were partying at 3AM, keeping the neighbors awake.

So, we get back to calling in the police and making the place worse for everyone. A hotel has people on the premise to monitor; an AirBnB is not guaranteed this.

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

#204

Post by alistairSH »

nerdponx wrote: post #44
mbostleman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think the "corporate-owned" piece is a misnomer. I think what they mean to say is that they are commercial operations, rather than individuals making use of extra space that they already had in their homes. If someone buys or rents a property that is bigger than they need, for the sole purpose of AirBnB-ing the extra space, that is a commercial mini-hotel. In some jurisdictions this is probably a good thing, where…

...commercial operations, rather than individuals making use of extra space that they already had in their homes.

This has been my experience. Super-hosts with more than one listing. Apartments/homes that were obviously full-time rentals. So, not run by big corporations, but definitely run by somebody who has enough money on hand to buy property as a business venture.

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

#205

Post by dark_glass »

Xylakant wrote: post #168
turc1656 wrote: post #145

Any time anyone says they "want to pay taxes", you know they are lying. No one anywhere wants to pay - no one looks forward to it. Not that I'm a fan of big government, but I don't understand why, if they really are just ignoring the law in most jurisdictions (which they are), none of these states just issue arrest warrants for the people in charge of these decisions? Why isn't there an outstanding warrant for the CE…

I, as an individual want to lay taxes and I want them to be put to good use. I also think my income bracket pays too little taxes. I want a thriving, stable society and I’m well aware on an intellectual level that if faced with the constant decision whether I should donate here or donate there or pay more for child-care so that they can subsidize people with less income, I’ll become overwhelmed and fail. I already fa…

If you want to pay more taxes, just donate to the government.

Donate to the US Treasury: https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html

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

#206

Post by friedman23 »

CharlesColeman wrote: post #129
friedman23 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And rightly so. Here come the emotionally and ideologically charged appeals to authority.

> Here come the emotionally and ideologically charged appeals to authority. Property rights are usually a literal appeal to authority (e.g. a community or a government).

>Property rights are usually a literal appeal to authority (e.g. a community or a government).

You are so hopped up on your ideology that you attributed some argument to my post that I wasn't even making. My post was criticizing the person for not even attempting to make an argument and instead devolving into just saying "you are wrong, I'm right".

Anyway, I find it interesting how angry people get about people using their homes as an additional source of income. I guess people just need a scapegoat for every little thing wrong in their lives. Look at some of the horrible anecdotes in this thread, there is someone actually blaming an increase in crime in Miami on Airbnb.

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

#207

Post by jkestner »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #135
Tsubasachan wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBNB ain't disrupting shit. Flop houses and illegal hotels have existed before. Silicon Valley doesn't do history ofcourse so they think that it is all new. As you say the laws to destroy them already exist, all it takes is the effort to use it.

I don't think AirBnB remotely fits the notion of a 'flophouse.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flophouse

San Francisco already has plenty of those. https://www.citylab.com/equity/2015/09/im-obsessed-with-san-...

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

#209

Post by seattle_spring »

duxup wrote: post #26

I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...) because there were likely no long term consequences for doing so, the folks staying there didn't care because why should they? I was on the association board, it's kinda thankless job as we had to deal with this house. We g…

> I lived a few doors down to someone who basically ran an ad hoc AirBnB ... before Airbnb. It was pretty terrible. Parties all the time, trash, they parked anywhere (in other people's driveways...)

I lived, several times, a few doors down to someone who did all this and didn't run an Airbnb. They're just shitty people, and they're going to be shitty neighbors regardless of Airbnb.

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

#210

Post by seattle_spring »

uwuhn wrote: post #196
DoreenMichele wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think AirBnB remotely fits the notion of a 'flophouse.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flophouse

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/23131937 10 people per room.

And listings like that are... what percentage of the total listings? 0.00001%? I bet there are more shared rooms on Craigslist than there are on Airbnb.
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