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Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

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

#251

Post by nate_meurer »

acct1771 wrote: post #227
nate_meurer wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question. In my case, the home is consistently occupied by more people than would otherwise be living there full time, and they're much more active than a family of permanent residents would be. They eat out a lot, drive around the town and up mountain roads, and if they're skiiers or outdoor sports-people, they're in and out of town every day. Guests are usually groups of blended family and friends, so there a…

If your native language isn't English, what is it? I have to know =]

American English. I hope. :) Does my writing seem otherwise?

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

#252

Post by bluGill »

bargl wrote: post #170
unknownkadath wrote: post #160

Nashville resident here. A drunk airbnb user tried to break into a neighbor's house around 11 pm last week while the residents were inside. He was lost and thought he was at his rental, but that wasn't apparent to anyone else in the beginning, so my wife gets a call for help from another neighbor and we go to check it out. When we get there, we discover the assailant has been treed on a shed roof by the woman whose d…

This is the USA, I'm surprised he wasn't shot. Not joking at all, your story is actually kinda funny but it could have gone so much worse at so many points. Is that AirBnB's fault? Is it the hosts fault? Is it the cities fault for not regulating this? Is it our society's fault for allowing drinking to the point of forgetting your address? I think in the end it's just a series of unfortunate events, that give you a re…

Despite what the media tries to tell you, shooting people in the US is not common. The media has an agenda on you thinking otherwise.

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

#253

Post by prepend »

frontloadpro wrote: post #17
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.

Why is your profile littered with anti Airbnb comments?

Because ve likely works for homeaway.

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

#254

Post by apex3stoker »

turc1656 wrote: post #195
Xylakant wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

" make me pay taxes, but make everyone else pay theirs" If you want to pay, as you stated, no one needs to force you. That was the point of my original statement. It sounds like you approve, in general, of the tax structure and the manner in which money is spent - which is totally fine. But no one needs to make you do anything that you already claim to want to do. To be clear, it sounds like you want what the taxes p…

Your claim is that no one wants to pay tax. I think Xylakant disproved your claim. Maybe you want to modify your claim that someone wants to pay tax so long as everyone else does the same?

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

#255

Post by joseph-curwen »

mrgordon wrote: post #244
joseph-curwen wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a story about Miami Beach: I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. The beach was not extremely crowded, you had nice restaurants and upscale shops and the vibes you were getting were similar to what you would see in the Mediterranean (Spain / south France). Wit…

South Florida literally invented Spring Break destination travel so I'd hardly blame Airbnb for this. The street racing and machismo culture has been there as long as I can remember (easily back through the 90s) and its the locals doing that. I'd blame Winter Music Conference and the constant stream of other huge party events as much as anything.

I've been living here for 9 years now, I think I'm in great position to see what's going on. I don't buy your argument for many reasons, most of which I mentioned in my original post. The low-class, ghetto criminal element has nothing to do with Winter Music Conference or South Beach culture. If you go through the links I included in my original post and look at some videos, it'll quickly become apparent.

These people have been enabled by dirt cheap Airbnb prices. Traditional hotels have higher prices but also enforce codes of behavior that tend to limit if not outright ban the incidents I described. Simply, you can't get away with behaving like that in a hotel. You have to keep up appearances. Even in a party town like Miami Beach. Not to mention there's competition for the rooms with regular tourists. Airbnb allows a gang of 20 ppl to rent a single room and come here to wreak havoc.

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

#256

Post by joseph-curwen »

uxp100 wrote: post #233
joseph-curwen wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a story about Miami Beach: I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. The beach was not extremely crowded, you had nice restaurants and upscale shops and the vibes you were getting were similar to what you would see in the Mediterranean (Spain / south France). Wit…

> When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. ... By 2014, a lot of restaurants and shops had closed down, to be replaced by 5 dollar souvenir shops (surf style!), kebab and pizza places. ... The ghetto criminal element is numerous and ever present. Your idea is that AirBnb provided cheaper lodging that made South Beach open to people outside of the European tourists…

Exactly. Entire blocks of stacked, brick-like units are being rented out dirt-cheap through Airbnb and of course attract the clientele one would expect.

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

#257

Post by yardie »

joseph-curwen wrote: post #99
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.

Here is a story about Miami Beach: I moved there 9 years ago and have spent the last 8 years living on Ocean Drive in South Beach. When I first moved there the neighborhood was full of high-class tourists, a lot of Europeans. The beach was not extremely crowded, you had nice restaurants and upscale shops and the vibes you were getting were similar to what you would see in the Mediterranean (Spain / south France). Wit…

I grew up in Miami and Miami Beach since the 80s. Miami Beach, and Ocean Drive have never been what you described. When I lived there fights, shootings, and prostitution was quite flagrant on Ocean. Before being redeveloped into million dollar condos, SoFi was a ghetto.

Spring Break is fairly new to the area. Prior to that the college students would hit Daytona, Panama City, or Key West. And long before that Fort Lauderdale was the Spring Break destination (showing my age).

The traditional family-owned restaurants started being driven out in 2014, to be replaced by new investor backed concepts because the rent was too high. Joe's Stone Crabs owns it spot and isn't going anywhere, I can't say the same for the restaurants around it. AirBnB didn't cause restaurants to close, speculators did.

Finally, it is the season of the snowbird. Every beach is packed with foreign tourists staying in their vacation homes on 6 month visas. When June arrives they'll leave, they always do.

Also, prior to this spring break there was only a few reasons to go to Ocean, Spring Break, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July. Now, city council and local organizations have planned street festivals basically every weekend between here and eternity.

All to say that very little of what's going on on Ocean Dr has anything to do with AirBnB.

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

#258

Post by TheGRS »

siruncledrew wrote: post #249
nate_meurer wrote: post #81

I run a vacation rental in a small town in the mountains of Colorado. I'm quite happy to pay the taxes the town demands. Our place is busy, and our guests make a significant impact on the town, spending a lot of money in local shops and restaurants. On the other hand, there is increased wear on city and county roads (many of which are gravel), and increased load on water, sewer, and sanitation services. Cities and co…

Your story shows an example of doing things the "proper way" - you operate by-the-book, you take responsibility for the property, and you're an active local small biz participant. The bigger issue is the people not doing these things. There are hosts (and guests) that simply don't give a fuck about others. Hosts (especially ones that don't live in the area) couldn't care less about their impact on the neighborhood as…

Personally I've had amazing experiences on AirBnB, to the point where I usually try to make an AirBnB work over a hotel. This of course is due to certain hosts going above and beyond the call of duty.

And then I've had experiences where I wonder why I didn't get a hotel for slightly more. Usually in the city where the host owns 20+ properties and really don't give 2 shits about the experience.

I do think this service needs to exist, if only to improve the overall travel experience, but yea they need to do some vetting or figure out a much better pricing structure. I love the idea of living like a local in some apartment building, but so far this experience has usually been pretty subpar for me.

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

#259

Post by yourduskquibble »

gamblor956 wrote: post #245
alistairSH wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, the other option... don't buy property that has these rules in place and you'll never have the problem. It's not like these rules pop up randomly - you have to sign condo/HOA docs as part of the closing process.

I agree. HOAs are still relatively rare outside of SoCal, so this issue is unlikely to pop up for 99.999% of the US population.

> HOAs are still relatively rare outside of SoCal, so this issue is unlikely to pop up for 99.999% of the US population.

This seems incorrect. They are more common than you think, especially in neighborhoods built within the last 30-40 years.

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

#260

Post by taborj »

mintplant wrote: post #108
taborj wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't comment to their operational policies, but I have a coworker who owns a house they use for AirBnb, and they make quite a bit of money off of it. Enough to have a house dedicated to AirBnb, and so one of them doesn't need to work. They seem pleased with it, and they're not a corporation by any means. But, again, I don't have a horse in this race.

Frankly, I don't see that as a positive outcome. That house could be someone's home.

It could be, sure. But in this instance, anyone who could afford that home could afford any of the other (many) houses up for sale in the area. This is in a touristy area, rather than a major city.

I can see this being an issue in a city, where housing is hard to find. But that's not the case in this instance.

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