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Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

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Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#11

Post by yeukhon »

ajiang wrote: post #9
ScottWhigham wrote: post #3

I was fully expecting this to by a study "by Airbnb" and I wasn't disappointed: "On behalf of Airbnb, an online service for short-term vacation rentals, HR&A conducted an economic impact assessment of Airbnb rental activities in the City of San Francisco, and is currently conducting a follow-up study of its impacts on New York City." http://www.hraadvisors.com/featured/economic-impacts-of-airb...

Yep. I actually think it would be valuable to have a third-party non-profit entity that provides economic impact assessments of start-ups like Uber and Airbnb, so we are backing up our regulatory policy changes on data rather than emotion or lobbying.

non-profit do you mean university? I'd rather have university do the research.

I often think non-profit is not as independent as we think. After all, a lot of non-profit are to advocate against public policy. Whereas usually university research (from multiple sources) seem to be more independent.

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#14

Post by nonchalance »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #5

This is not an independent, peer-reviewed study. It was commissioned by AirBnB. HR&A, the study's authors, point the interested to AirBnB's press release versus a full paper [1]. One would be cautioned against taking its findings seriously. I am even intrigued as to why AirBnB felt it was unnecessary or even counterproductive to release the full paper. [1] https://twitter.com/hraadvisors/status/393039913307758592

I suspect the full paper includes much of that hand-wavey obviously-biased goodness that we expect from Fox News: http://freethoughtblogs.com/lousycanuck/2011/12/14/im-better...

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#15

Post by jriley »

Anecdote for my sister in Texas: 2010: Started renting her house on AirBnB to build savings / side-income. 2011: Left full-time design job. 2012: Repaired house and added efficiency unit. 2013: Picking up freelance design work.

Results: She works less hours overall, but feels need to respond to AirBnB-related requests at all hours. Now has ~20% higher income but less predictability. She pays taxes. AirBnB taught her several skills necessary for entrepreneurship. Still cringes when there is a critical review.

Her local bars and cafes definitely benefit from her guests (she provides local recommendations). I suspect local hotels might be losing some but not all of the business. Her guests pay roughly 25% less than local hotels.

She also travels more now, and has built a network from people who have stayed with her. Examples: Helped plan a wedding, assisted commercial photo shoots, went for drinks when visiting former guests’ cities.

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#16

Post by pkfrank »

cylinder wrote: post #4

Bunch of garbage. Enabling tourists to stay in different neighborhoods doesn't grow the economy, it just shifts where some of the money is spent from midtown to downtown.

Without arguing the motivations of this "third party" study, you ignore the fact that it finds:

- People stayed longer and spent more

- Money ended up in individuals' hands, instead of a hotel megacorp chain

- Much was outside Manhattan (a distinction from your claim of "midtown to downtown")

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#17

Post by CodeCube »

This is something I see often ... a company wants to prove some positive thing about their business, so they commission a study, only to have it torn down in comments because it was they who paid for it.

I totally get that it's a conflict of interest, but what alternative is there? Seems like a study of this kind is really valuable to be able to contribute to the policy conversation that's currently underway. Would the only ethical option be for AirBnB to put out a public call for someone, anyone, to do this study on their own dime? Who would do such a thing without being paid up front? Would it still be a conflict of interest if the researchers put up a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the study (even if they did so at the behest of AirBnB)?

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#18

Post by dfc »

Can anyone comment on the difference between "contributions to total spending in the city economy" and "economic activity generated in the city"? I am curious about the disparity in these two statements:

SF: From April 2011 May 2012 guests and hosts utilizing Airbnb have contributed $56 million in total spending to San Francisco’s economy [1]

NYC: Over the course of a year, Airbnb generated $632 million in economic activity in New York. [2]

Another question I have is how would the authors identify the economic contributions of AirBnB hosts in San Francisco? And/or how they would distinguish between the contributions that were the result of AirBnB and those contributions that would have happened without AirBnB?

I am aware of HR&A's motivations.[3] I am not trying to criticize the report I am interested in the actual analytical process.

[1] http://assets.airbnb.com/press/press-releases/Economic_Impac...

[2] http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/2013/10/22/airbnb-a-huge-bo...

[3] http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#19

Post by ritchiea »

As a New Yorker looking for an apartment I've really come to despise Airbnb. Housing has obviously always been expensive here, but it's reached new heights this year. I'm looking in Brooklyn and not only are the rents higher than I've ever seen them, but it's much more difficult than before to find a bedroom in an existing household (via craigslist, etc). All the while I encounter an increasing number of people, friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, who say they have a bedroom in their apartment that they keep open to rent out to Airbnb guests. I know this is HN and someone is going to say this is just an anecdote, and clearly that's true, but there's no doubt Airbnb is not just competing with hotels, it's also lowering housing availability in desirable neighborhoods, and likely raising prices in an already expensive rental market.

Re: Airbnb a big boost to NYC economy, study finds

#20

Post by NathanKP »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #5

This is not an independent, peer-reviewed study. It was commissioned by AirBnB. HR&A, the study's authors, point the interested to AirBnB's press release versus a full paper [1]. One would be cautioned against taking its findings seriously. I am even intrigued as to why AirBnB felt it was unnecessary or even counterproductive to release the full paper. [1] https://twitter.com/hraadvisors/status/393039913307758592

The paper may be commissioned by Airbnb, but I think the fundamental findings are pretty solid. Of course I'm probably fairly biased because I'm a pretty heavy Airbnb user, with more than ten Airbnb stays in NYC in the last couple years.

From what I've experienced Airbnb has allowed me to stay in areas of the city that have few hotels or poor hotel coverage. I'm not the kind of person who enjoys Midtown. I can't stand the tourist crowds, most of the restaurants are horrible and there is no way in hell that I'm going to spend $200 a night of startup money on staying at a Midtown hotel.

So when I'm in NYC with the startup I work for I'll stay in Williamsburg at a cheap Airbnb place. Because of this I'm usually able to stay around three weeks, and during that time my money is going to local restaurants, bars, and convenience stores in Williamsburg and the LES.

All considered I probably still spend the same amount of money as your average Midtown tourist, because I stay in NYC much longer even though my expenses per day are lower than if I was staying in corporate hotels. But the important thing is that the money I do spend is going to a local resident (90% of the Airbnbs I've stayed at have been renting a room in the primary residence of the Airbnb host), and to small local businesses, not to big corporate chain hotels and chain restaurants in Midtown. I consider this to be a good thing.

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