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Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

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Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#81
Regulatory arbitrage of some sort seems to be involved in many recent digital business models. Whether it concerns or involves (lack of) data privacy regulation, "reinventing" labour contracts or undercutting taxation frameworks, it is a most cruel reminder of how poor the management of the commons.

While many of the efficiencies and attractions of re-inventing various businesses for the "digital age" seem genuine, their deployment within a fog of regulatory risk seems like a lose-lose proposition for anybody but the most short-term minded.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's no longer acceptable to own a human being, that's going to be a problem for the gimp training and service industry in Amsterdam. https://www.nobleprog.nl/en/gimp/training/amsterdam >Gimp Training in Amsterdam >Online or onsite, instructor-led live Gimp training courses demonstrate through interactive discussion and hands-on practice the fundamentals and advanced topics of Gimp and Gimpshop. >Gimp training is…

I think those are two very different types of gimps.

They use AirBnD instead.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#83
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah… who are the owners of a flat to decide what to do with it, eh?

Yeah! If a landlord wants to put up tourists in leaky slum houses for €250 a night that should be their right! It's their own fault for trusting an online advert, right? Hotels have rules, regulations and need to be inspected according to hotel rules in terms of safety, hygiene and price rules. Rentals have rules and regulations related to basic standards of living, pricing, and again, safety and hygiene. Airbnb allo…

Who checks hotels?

I've been in some flea bags, and didn't know until I showed up.

This is just in the USA though.

If they serve food, they are check usually once a year, and that's it, and it's only the kitchen.

Hotels/motels are not inspected for anything--sadily.

(I've always wondered what counties/towns do with that occupancy tax they collect. I don't like Airbnb though, and agree with you for the most.)

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#84
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that confused me too.

It may flow through the days of newspapers for apartment rentals. A person wanted to sublet, to rent, an ad in the paper was the way. And listings are ads, just with deferred payment (eg, once rented, then you kick a percent at the platform). Another "common person" thinks of it differently than we do, thing?

Don't overthink it. The article was probably translated from Dutch, or done by a Dutch person, and there isn't direct equivalent for "listings" in Dutch.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#85

Amsterdam is trying hard to fight against tourism. They even plan to move the red light district and possibly demand dutch ID in coffeeshops. Nice to see that. 20M tourists per year for 1.2M city is too much.

Yeah, who cares about those who make a living off tourism. They should learn to code.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#86
post #71
post #9

So essentially 80% were not properly registered and paying taxes? I’m not that surprised, once a good double-digit number are cheating, cheating becomes the only viable way to remain competitive.

Years ago when Airbnb was picking up steam and I was in college I got a gig building a tool to automate cross-referencing Airbnb listings with housing records so the city could request the optional tourism tax. What we found surprised all of them. A handful of people were listing sometimes over a dozen properties and avoiding the larger, but not optional, hotel tax. The 80% figure doesn’t surprise me much now just kn…

> how a few individuals can flood the short-term rental market in an area.

And, if it's like some cities (Dublin, Galway), they do this at the expense of the long-term rental market.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#87
post #66
post #36

Airbnb was amazing to start with, I stayed with some many interesting people and in interesting places. It's a shame that it's now so commoditised.

Lot's of experiences are amazing and wonderful when very few people do it, but they morph into something different when the masses come in. National parks. A rustic cafe in an old town. A picknick along a river bank. High signal internet forums. Venice. Zhangjiajie. Driving cars. I don't know if any solution exists. It seems to me that the only way to preserve the original experience is via some sort of exclusiveness…

I don't think it's the number of people by itself. It's when it's becomes an established business that people have to start optimizing for low cost, max profit and fighting to get to the top of listings. Then the general niceness and interestingness goes away.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#88
post #9

So essentially 80% were not properly registered and paying taxes? I’m not that surprised, once a good double-digit number are cheating, cheating becomes the only viable way to remain competitive.

>I’m not that surprised, once a good double-digit number are cheating, cheating becomes the only viable way to remain competitive.

Is that not always the case with these American marketplace apps? Now that the property owners have to follow the rules, they have the same burden as the real hotels, but none of the economy of scale.

Same with all the places where they make Uber drivers be actual taxi drivers in actual taxis. Then all of a sudden they are competing directly against some very large, established players who have the market pretty well figured out already.

Re: Airbnb removes 80% of advertisements in Amsterdam after registration obligation

#89
post #84
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may flow through the days of newspapers for apartment rentals. A person wanted to sublet, to rent, an ad in the paper was the way. And listings are ads, just with deferred payment (eg, once rented, then you kick a percent at the platform). Another "common person" thinks of it differently than we do, thing?

Don't overthink it. The article was probably translated from Dutch, or done by a Dutch person, and there isn't direct equivalent for "listings" in Dutch.

If there isn't a distinction between ads and listings in some language, isn't that more evidence that both are actually the same thing?
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