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I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

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Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#341

Post by icebraining »

Shinkei wrote: post #325
lxmorj wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? It's abusive because he makes a profit and doesn't do all the work himself?? Watch out, all of business, ever!!

It's abusive because he is passing the cost of cleaning the place to the user... which in fairness should then be variable based on its usage. 1 OCD person gets charged the same fee as multiple slobs that brought their pets and smoked in the apartment. That 'fee' should be rolled into the rental cost/cost of doing business. He is using it to augment his profit.

It's abusive because he is passing the cost of cleaning the place to the user...

All costs of a business are passed to the consumer. Where do you think the money a business makes comes from? Sure, if there's a cost increase, a business can decide to lower the profit margin to avoid increasing the price, but the costs are still being passed on.

which in fairness should then be variable based on its usage

Why? When did it become wrong to charge flat fee for a service? The cleaning lady is also charging a flat per hour fee even though it's cheaper for her to do a single 3-hour job instead of 3 1-hour ones, is she being unfair too?

Nobody who offers a service can or should be required to charge proportionally to the costs. It's irrational to demand that.

That 'fee' should be rolled into the rental cost/cost of doing business.

I suggest he eliminates the cleaning fee and raises the prices by $35/visit. Apparently the morality of a fee depend on whether it's itemized.

He is using it to augment his profit

The nerve.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#342

Post by anoncowherd »

hansjorg wrote: post #332
anoncowherd wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. .. Why the everloving fuck would this be illegal? What sense could it possibly make? -You have some property and you're letting someone use it for a fee. I get that this actually might be illegal somewhere - I'm just trying to highlight the fact that it would be absolutely fucking insane.

> What sense could it possibly make? -You have some property and you're letting someone use it for a fee This is the extraordinarily naive libertarian position. Most people would not welcome a brothel as their closest neighbor for example.

>> This is the extraordinarily naive libertarian position. Most people would not welcome a brothel as their closest neighbor for example.

That's different from just renting out your place to some random traveller. Besides, even if renting your place is legal, nothing prevents you from whipping up a contract that places some limits on how rowdy the occupant(s) can get.

So no, there's nothing "naive" about thinking that renting out your property being illegal is fucking insane.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#343

Post by ghaff »

rdl wrote: post #312
maxwell wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in hospitality for 5 years, and right now I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Vegas, a few miles from the author's Airbnb place. Hotels are obsolete. It's not the business model, short-term housing and hospitality certainly have no risk of obsolescence ever, it's the industry. Service sucks, rooms suck, tech really sucks. You have awkward kids in bad suits and clip-on ties at the front desk who're trained to…

I love hotels (specifically, Starwood and Inter-Continental, especially in Asia), and spend about 50-100 nights/year in hotels. I infrequently use VRBO to rent a house somewhere without great hotels (and have tried AirBnB but outside SF, never worked out really well), but otherwise, the hotel experience is basically awesome for me. There is one set of tweaks I'd like to do (maybe to make a brand-within-a-brand for We…

Yep. I haven't done much with AirBnB and its ilk but I do often try to go the B&B route rather than the-big-chain-hotel (or even the smaller not-so-chain-hotel) route. But, as you say, especially for business travel, a lot of the time I just want something predictable that meets a certain standard. I don't want to be concerned that if my plans change and I don't get in until 9 that there won't be anyone there to let me in, etc. I frankly just don't have the mental energy to deal with on-offs for the whole 1/3 of the year or so I travel.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#344

Post by ghaff »

marvin wrote: post #334
anoncowherd wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Building up can ruin the character of the neighborhood, which is often a big part of the allure. Well then, less allure would lead to lower prices, right? What's not to like?

That's all well and good. But all the wealthy people who already live there will probably use their political clout to prevent new construction.

And this is inherently wrong, why? People (of whatever their net worth) vote, speak at meetings, and talk to their representatives to try and pursue outcomes that they prefer. One of those outcomes may be maintaining a particular character for a neighborhood. It's complicated. Greater good for the larger city or whatever and all that. But I don't see anything devious about residents having a say in what their community looks like.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#345

Post by DanBC »

anoncowherd wrote: post #330
geebee wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than saying "don't do this", it would probably be better to say "Step 1: make sure it is legal to do this". As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. My guess is that it's harder to find a profit opportunity, though, because the more profitable use (legal use as a short term hotel) is already priced into the unit. I suspect that one reason airbnb is so profitable…

> As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. .. Why the everloving fuck would this be illegal? What sense could it possibly make? -You have some property and you're letting someone use it for a fee. I get that this actually might be illegal somewhere - I'm just trying to highlight the fact that it would be absolutely fucking insane.

Hotels are regulated for fire safety, food hygiene, etc etc.

You can see how it's useful to protect society to not allow people to run unlicensed hotels?

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#346

Post by cerebrum »

rdl wrote: post #312
maxwell wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in hospitality for 5 years, and right now I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Vegas, a few miles from the author's Airbnb place. Hotels are obsolete. It's not the business model, short-term housing and hospitality certainly have no risk of obsolescence ever, it's the industry. Service sucks, rooms suck, tech really sucks. You have awkward kids in bad suits and clip-on ties at the front desk who're trained to…

I love hotels (specifically, Starwood and Inter-Continental, especially in Asia), and spend about 50-100 nights/year in hotels. I infrequently use VRBO to rent a house somewhere without great hotels (and have tried AirBnB but outside SF, never worked out really well), but otherwise, the hotel experience is basically awesome for me. There is one set of tweaks I'd like to do (maybe to make a brand-within-a-brand for We…

50-100 nights/year in good hotels is not for everyone. May I ask how you foot the bill?

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#347

Post by omonra »

Steko wrote: post #270
mindcrime wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument presumes that an extended-stay hotel needs to be licensed. I don't buy it. Neither do I. This is not something the State needs to be involved in at all.

There's something analogous to the weak anthropic principle here in that we mostly live in places where the problems that come with unlicensed hotels have been stomped out, sometimes for generations, largely through successful regulation.

I don't think we are against hotel regulation. We just don't consider renting one's apartment on Airbnb the same as a hotel.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#348

Post by ghaff »

Shinkei wrote: post #325
lxmorj wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? It's abusive because he makes a profit and doesn't do all the work himself?? Watch out, all of business, ever!!

It's abusive because he is passing the cost of cleaning the place to the user... which in fairness should then be variable based on its usage. 1 OCD person gets charged the same fee as multiple slobs that brought their pets and smoked in the apartment. That 'fee' should be rolled into the rental cost/cost of doing business. He is using it to augment his profit.

It is relatively common for vacation properties to be priced this way because, well, it tends to reflect the owner's costs in that someone is paid to thoroughly clean the property when the renter checks out. (And it's either not cleaned or cleaned much more cursorily on a day to day basis.)

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#349

Post by rdl »

cerebrum wrote: post #346
rdl wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love hotels (specifically, Starwood and Inter-Continental, especially in Asia), and spend about 50-100 nights/year in hotels. I infrequently use VRBO to rent a house somewhere without great hotels (and have tried AirBnB but outside SF, never worked out really well), but otherwise, the hotel experience is basically awesome for me. There is one set of tweaks I'd like to do (maybe to make a brand-within-a-brand for We…

50-100 nights/year in good hotels is not for everyone. May I ask how you foot the bill?

A combination of aggressive use of hotel points (eg I paid for 7 nights in Bali just now, about 100-150/night for huge suites with my girlfriend, and am doing 14 days in Bangkok starting 5 nov for free on the points I earned (due to promos, etc).) and work reimbursement. I'm also sort of homeless in that I don't pay rent. (Gf has condo).

A lot is work reimbursed (looks like about 200 nights in 2014 if things go well), plus Starwood points from work and personal Amex.

Re: I Bought An Apartment To Rent Out On Airbnb

#350

Post by geebee »

anoncowherd wrote: post #330
geebee wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than saying "don't do this", it would probably be better to say "Step 1: make sure it is legal to do this". As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. My guess is that it's harder to find a profit opportunity, though, because the more profitable use (legal use as a short term hotel) is already priced into the unit. I suspect that one reason airbnb is so profitable…

> As you've pointed out, there are plenty of places where it is perfectly legal to do this. .. Why the everloving fuck would this be illegal? What sense could it possibly make? -You have some property and you're letting someone use it for a fee. I get that this actually might be illegal somewhere - I'm just trying to highlight the fact that it would be absolutely fucking insane.

A lot of people don't want to live next to a revolving door of new arrivals. They enjoy knowing their neighbors, having friends for their kids nearby, and building lasting relationships with the community. They are willing to trade their own right to rent out their house as a short term hotel in exchange for a legally enforced expectation that their neighbors won't do this either. Yes, this does amount to a limit on personal, individual freedom - you can not purchase a house and turn it into a short term rental unit (ie., a hotel) at will anywhere you please.
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