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Airbnb’s ‘Guerrilla War’ Against Local Governments

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

#311

Post by sokoloff »

munk-a wrote: post #304
sokoloff wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To optimize within the cab rules, you’d need to have drivers purchase a medallion and only be able to make pickups in the city which issued the medallion... To optimize within the hotel rules, you’d need hosts to get a hotel/rooming house license...

Cab medallions are currently transferable, so you would need to purchase enough medallions to operate the fleet you would hit at peak usage, but otherwise you'd just need to ensure that all of the driver can qualify for a medallion. Hotel/rooming house licenses aren't un-affordable, there are regulations around them but both motel6 and mom&pop B&Bs can acquire them, so the bar is generally pretty low. For instance in…

Clicking through to https://cambridgema.viewpointcloud.com/categories/1096/recor..., when you read the rules, you see "Do not apply for this if Airbnb or any short term rental, or a bed and breakfast establishment." Making it obviously difficult for AirBnB to play within the established rules...

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

#312

Post by novok »

nate_meurer wrote: post #283
RankingMember wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsolicited recommendation from one person on the other end: don't charge for toilet paper. If your concern is environmental, I don't think it'll make an impact as people will just pay the $1 or $2 and use the same amount. If your concern is money, just raise your rate. Hosts who nickel and dime for that kind of stuff come off like major cheapskates and tend to have reviews that reflect that. I've stayed at places th…

This is good advice. I hate nickle-and-dimey stuff too, so yeah, good point. You know what else I hate? Fucking Keurig. I hate the packaging, I hate the shitty brewing machines that don't brew hot enough or saturate the pods, and I hate the racketeering company. Nevertheless, one of the most consistent compliments I get in reviews is about this dinky little coffee and tea station we have set up on a bread rack. Nothi…

There are many k-cups that are not from keurig, and they are %100 industrially compostable. You can also put a small compost bucket beside the pods so they would actually be composted. That plus sweetener in paper packets and you have a %100 compostable system. Maybe there are powder creamers out there that come in paper packets too.

I use these guys myself, and they are 0.30 a cup from Costco: https://www.sanfranciscobaycoffee.com/index.php/onecup-for-k...

I like the rainforest blend the best, but you will probably want a variety pack to see what guests like the best.

Also bidets don't really reduce tp usage for me, since you need it to dry up.

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

#313

Post by jseliger »

siruncledrew wrote: post #213
jseliger wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirBnB doesn't make the little guy make a few extra bucks renting out a room as much as it makes those who already have money buy up studios and one bedroom apartments. The effect is that such apartments get more expensive for those who just need a place to live. If only there were some way of increasing the number of housing units on a given area of land, this problem could be solved and we could have enough housing…

Increasing the number of housing units doesn't solve the problem though. What is to stop people with money from buying those up and then Airbnbing them out? Those "landlords/property investors" have enough cashflow and collateral to continue to expand their portfolios and get lines of credit to do so, which puts 'normal people' looking for housing at a disadvantage. In high-demand housing areas, there needs to be mor…

Increasing the number of housing units doesn't solve the problem though. What is to stop people with money from buying those up and then Airbnbing them out?

The principle of supply and demand, or basic economics. If demand for units is satisfied and an agent keeps buying and attempting to rent units, the price will collapse until the agent can no longer afford or buy them.

You may want to spend some time here: https://mru.org/courses/principles-economics-microeconomics

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

#314

Post by donarb »

deepakhj wrote: post #232
sushisushisushi wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But outside of that structure, what gives someone the right to dictate to their neighbors what they can and can't do with their own property? The fact that what you do with your own property often has direct effects on your neighbors. This is why zoning regulations exist, for example. And noise ordinances. And building codes. There isn't a magical forcefield that ends at your property line that prevents what you're…

A lot of zoning regulations exist to keep black people out. See single family zoning, redlining, and apartment building bans. Texas has barely any zoning and it’s doing fine.

Texas? The place where anybody can build a house in a flood plain and then expect the government to bail them out when the river rises? The place where currently a blazing chemical fire is allowed to burn for days and neighbors (to a chemical plant?) are told to stay indoors until it burns itself out? Doesn't sound like they are doing fine.

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

#315

Post by bluGill »

bargl wrote: post #295
bluGill wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Correct, I should have not said shot and more said had a gun waiving at him. I would say however, that while shootings are rare in the US, so are events where people run to grab a weapon. We can agree that the prevalence of guns means there is a high chance a gun is the most dangerous weapon available. I would guess that in events where there is banging on a house guns are "involved" more in the USA than in other cou…

Guns are common in the US, but most gun owners are not out looking for a chance to use them. Even those who support carry their gun with them everywhere do not pull their gun just because they can, and most have enough training to not pull their gun too soon. (pulling a gun can defuse the situation when the other party realizes it is serious, but it can also escalate the situation when the other turns to the fight side of fight of flight)

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

#316

Post by nate_meurer »

sharkmerry wrote: post #301
leetcrew wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I took their entire security deposit is this legal? I thought you were only allowed to deduct actual damage / cost of repairs from a security deposit, not punitive charges.

they did mention there was a burn mark on the dining room table. not sure how that happened when smoking outside but that is damages

Correct, plus a couple other damaged items. The burn on the table was actually from a joint, not a cigarette. I can tell as soon as I walk into the house what was smoked and how much. Marijuana, tobacco, pot rolled into cigarillos... if I look in the trash to confirm, I'm always right. Marijuana smoke smell dissipates fully in a few days, and guests don't seem to mind a little left over. But tobacco smoke never goes away. It even soaks into the deck wood outside, so I can often tell if there was a heavy outdoor smoker there even if they leave no butts behind.

I explicitly allowed marijuana smoking inside the house up until then as a way to support legalization, and because the smoke is much more tame. But then it occurred to me: people can vape. I'm not a pot user so I guess I'm a little behind. So now, no more smoking.

But yeah, if someone burns anything in my house by leaving a live fucking coal on it, they're pretty much guaranteed to lose their security deposit. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Aside from that, I go to great lengths to give all my guests' money back. If someone just lets me know that they broke something, I never charge them for it. I suppose I'd have to charge for things like broken windows, but that hasn't happened yet.

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

#317

Post by kevinskii »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #297
uwuhn wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a student and I airbnb'd there while in between leases. Most of the other people I met there weren't students either.

So, a few questions: 1. Would you say you, personally, were "homeless" at the time that you lived there? 2. Would you say the photo the listing was representative? Or would you say it actually looked more like a filthy dive, a la the photos in the Wikipedia article on flophouses? 3. Would you say the majority of other tenants were transients ? Anything else you can tell us here on HN to support your assertion that th…

The listing in question does fit the definition of a flophouse, per your Wikipedia link [1]. It might not fully match the traditional conception of a flophouse, but it seems fair to call it one.

[1] "flophouses...have been used for overnight lodging by those who needed the lowest cost alternative to staying with others, shelters or sleeping outside. Generally rooms are small, bathrooms are shared, and bedding is minimal..."

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

#318

Post by nate_meurer »

novok wrote: post #312
nate_meurer wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is good advice. I hate nickle-and-dimey stuff too, so yeah, good point. You know what else I hate? Fucking Keurig. I hate the packaging, I hate the shitty brewing machines that don't brew hot enough or saturate the pods, and I hate the racketeering company. Nevertheless, one of the most consistent compliments I get in reviews is about this dinky little coffee and tea station we have set up on a bread rack. Nothi…

There are many k-cups that are not from keurig, and they are %100 industrially compostable. You can also put a small compost bucket beside the pods so they would actually be composted. That plus sweetener in paper packets and you have a %100 compostable system. Maybe there are powder creamers out there that come in paper packets too. I use these guys myself, and they are 0.30 a cup from Costco: https://www.sanfrancis…

Yes I buy Kirkland as well. You're right much cheaper, but same horrendously wasteful packaging.

So, talk to me about the bidet. I've always though that if I hosed myself off real good, then I could consistently use just one wipe with the tp to dry off, instead of needing an unpredictable number of wipings to the same without water. Is this realistic? Do you find it's consistently just one tp wipe per job? Because that right there would be a huge improvement in my material costs.

Edit: Wait, did you say compostable k-cups? I've never heard of that, BRB...

Edit2: I'll be darned. That's great. They're a little more expensive than Kirkland, but I think it's worth it. Very cool, thanks for the tip.

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

#319

Post by evanlivingston »

ng12 wrote: post #307
evanlivingston wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't think it's simply a supply problem. As much as it pains me to use a reductionist metaphor, I'm going to. Suppose my community has a finite amount of resource X available to us that we need to live and and we only require 75% of that resource. A company comes along and offers individuals a whole pile a money to sell of their claims to the resource, so much so that the company now controls 90% of that resou…

If AirBnBs overtook 90% of the apartments in your neighborhood this example might be relevant. > The company begins boxing up that resource and shipping it off to people who will pay more money for that resource. Unless you live in Christiana this is probably already the case. AirBnBs tend to be in expensive neighborhoods.

If it were not the case that the resource was being shipped off and sold for more that would mean I could stay in an AirBnB for the same price as a pay for rent, which I can't.

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

#320

Post by unknownkadath »

leesalminen wrote: post #287
lotsofpulp wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also wouldn't be there if his friend wasn't getting married and he didn't go to a bachelor party, along with a million other vendors and people he interacted with prior to getting irresponsibly inebriated and harassing a stranger. Regardless of Airbnb's legality or whatnot, the blame in this specific story lies simply on the person who chose to get too drunk.

Agreed. We had a similar situation in my town a few years back. The homeowner shot and killed a drunken intruder in the middle of the night. It turned out to be a drunk college student who didn’t know where they were. The homeowner was charged, but later acquitted by a jury. I was glad to hear the jury agreed that the action was appropriate. Drinking to excess has consequences, including death. Either from liver fail…

That escalated quickly
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