I read that airbnb lead to rents rise, because it made it so easy for landlords to run their property like hotels. I don't use them, and kind of think lowly of people that are like "well it's convenient so i don't care".
This. They help destroy housing markets.
while hotels and motels run at low capacity utilization
I only use it when I travel in large groups. At which point it's really really nice. It's private. It's quiet. It's cheap (per person). It's more social. We usually also save money on food by buying in bulk and cooking.
Living next to a few short-term rentals, it is so extremely creepy to have various large groups of people in and out, staring at you and your stuff, blocking the street with Ubers and scooters, and you only think it's quiet because you're the house making all the noise.
It sucks to make a neighborhood a nice place to live only to have all that leeched for profit selling to bachelorette parties full of girls going WOOO at 1 AM.
I live in a neighborhood that regularly (as in, at least once, often more times a week) has people blasting concert grade speakers until like 4 in the morning, with revving cars, fireworks, gunshots, etc etc.
and thats from people who live there. no airbnbs.
Shitty people are shitty people. at least with an airbnb you have a chance at a break in the neighbors being dickheads.
As usual, a few jerks ruin it for the rest of us.
I've stayed at a number of airbnbs and we're very respectful of our neighbors. We basically treat the place as if we lived there, because that's what we're looking for.
Hotels suck:
I just don't like hotels. Maybe zoning could limit airbnbs to townhouse/condo communities or something that are all rentals, but give me more options than a stupid hotel.
While Air B&B has done irreperable harm to the housing market, I'm not 100% convinced it should be banned. I propose if a house operates as an enterprise, it be taxed according to commercial rates, not residential. It would go a long way to resolving the inequities.
this. it should be taxed like any other hotel/motel
At least for the time it's not used as a residence by the owners. If they want a mixed rate, they need to prove when they are there and when they're not (i.e. when it's listed for rent).
I imagine there are some "written in blood" laws and regulations that apply to hotels that airbnb is ignoring, too. That should also be addressed.
Yep instead of lowering rent because your unit is unaffordable you just buy up and rent them all out creating housing scarcity and prices will increase right up until the point ppl can't afford to vacation anymore... Which is pretty much now anyway. Queue up all the BS stories. "Millennials/zoomers don't 'want' to vacation anymore"
The Snake is going to eat it's tail.
DUMP AirBnB right away. They are kissing Trumps ass all the way. The CEO is very... very proud to be part of DOGE. Fuck them.
Gross. I didn't know that. I do occasionally use AirBnB. I'm aware of their impact on the rental market, so I favor hotels most of the time. But there have been a few occasions in recent years where I was traveling in a larger group and an AirBnB made more sense. But no more of that.
I looked in to this a little, and Joe Gebbia is no longer the CEO, but he is still on the board. Still a good enough reason to boycott.
too little too late.
This 100%.
AirBnB used to be cheaper than a hotel. Then it got so easy to tack on fees and ridiculous requirements that you're basically paying more than a hotel to housekeep your own room.
Mix in lots of shady hosts and most of the time I'd rather just stay at the Hilton for the same price.
It can still be useful as a novelty, like book a party house somewhere or as easily cheaper way to house an awful lot of people. But for the most part, I'll pass.
Airbnb was started to offer up your free space to someone for a night for a bit of cash, and that was it. Then the morons found out and bought whole ass houses specifically to rent out on Airbnb.
People ruin everything.
Yup. I used AirBnB when they first started and it wasn't terrible but then it became a huge hassle. Don't give me a list of chores and then I might get penalty fees if I don't do them right. Plus all the other damn fees. I don't even bother to look at ABnB any more
5 years too late, hotels have been cheaper and better for a while now. All of these companies that touted revolutionizing industries have just become worse versions.
Netflix, airbnb, uber, etc all of them are worse for people than the things they replaced
Richard Wolf had a very good take on all of these Silicon Valley "disruptors". It's basically been the neoliberal US american MO for the past quarter century:
Step 1: get a bunch VC money by promising the moon
Step 2: "disrupt" by undercutting the established moon due to lack of regulation. Even though it's an inferior product, it's VC subsidised, so it's cheaper than the established businesses.
Step 3: due to lack of regulation, your business drives established operators to bankruptcy. This is basically dumping but the regulation hasn't caught up.
Step 4: become the monopoly and suck as much money as possible from your customers to generate "shareholder value"
American business practices summed up for pretty much my entire lifetime right here. No wonder we live in such a shit hole - society as a whole has mortgaged and undercut for an entire generation.
I’ve been the weird one in my friend group because I’ve refused to use Airbnb. Why would I want a less guaranteed place to stay that doesn’t have amenities and now costs more?
I share a lot of of the criticism towards AirBnB. However, I've often ended up using them either way. We travel with a dog and a toddler. They need to be allowed in the first place. And ideally we get a kitchen, a separate room so we can still have normal noise and light when the kid sleeps. Often we even find Airbnbs with toys, kids books, dog beds, treats on the table when we arrive, ...
You simply don't get that in hotels. At least not in a price range I've considered so far
i don't think people need to justify Airbnb's, it's a great alternative to a hotel for many reasons including those you listed. What needs to be addressed is the damage the shareholders who are running the company are doing to society. let's not give them too much credit about this choice: they are still sucking up homes from homeowners and removing money from the middle class. they only made this change because someone realized it will make them more money.
Their footnote section is doing a lot of work.
1 In some countries and regions taxes are included in the total price displayed. The total price including taxes is always displayed prior to checkout.
They also either don't know how notations work, or the AI they're using to generate this doesn't because it has a separate footnote with that same sentence later on.
I would be thoroughly unsurprised if some EU or other regulation came into effect so that they have to do this, and now they're taking credit for being consumer friendly.
It’s actually a US regulation which goes into effect on May 10th. Most other booking sites should be following suit with something similar over the next few weeks.
Exactly!
I have young kids, and airbnbs offer a lot that hotels don't, and they don't have the crap I hate about hotels (housekeeping, sketchy parking lot, etc).
Surely we can find a solution where you and I can get what we want, while residents get what they want.
I stopped using their site for anything years ago. This was one of the main reasons. Too little too late for me.
What. The. Fuck.
They haven’t been doing this from the beginning? That’s shady as all hell.
They had it originally and when they removed it is when I stopped using them. Like every other fucking "Uber of" tech company, they couldn't compete with the traditional thing they were trying to "disrupt" once the VC money dried up, and tried to cover for that with deception. Fuck them, I'll just book a hotel.
before taxes
Why is ~~the West~~ like this
Edit: America. Sorry for bundling you functional EU countries into this
We always see prices after tax in the EU
Unfortunately, Canada too. Very annoying.
Theres been only a couple times in my life where I considered an AirBnB over a motel/hotel.
Every time I ended up staying at the Hotel/Motel, because it ended up being cheaper.
I remember looking at an airbnb that was like 25 dollars a night, and went to check out.. and had to do a fucking comic book double take because the 25 dollars a night (was only needing it for one night) ended up being like 250 dollars thanks to bullshit cleaning fees and other exploitative, hidden bullshit.
So if that 25 dollar a night place is now being displayed as 250 dollars a night.. then I forsee AirBnB bookings plummeting.
the motel I ended up at instead was only 75 bucks all in, just as point of reference.
Wouldn't this mane Americans uncomfortable, they aren't used to seeing the actual cost if something until one step away from checkout, or sometimes not even then.
In future news, AirBnB has gone bankrupt due to lack of bookings.
I remember when things like Uber and Air BnB came along the media was saying it was the death of cab companies and hotels. Well enshittification marches on and they've both become bogged down in costs, fees, rules, etc.
Any alternatives? Especially European?
hotels/hostels?
Airbnb turns potential living space into hotel space and thereby helps driving up housing prices. The whole concept is inherently problematic.
Not quite hotel space as I have yet to find a hotel that can accommodate several families traveling together with a shared space, including a fully stocked kitchen, washer and dryer, parking, etc. There's definitely a demand for something like this that isn't filled in any other way.
Total price display? Always been there. Always been a legal requirement.
(Not in your place? LOL)
I never stayed in an Airbnb, always found easier and/or better options at hotels, or an apartment at booking.com. People act like Airbnb came up with the concept of renting apartments, while websites like this have been doing this for a decade by the time it came around.
Hotels have always been better in my experience.
Unless you want something like a fishing cabin on a river, but even then I’ve started to look at resorts because after all the fees, they work out to the same price as an airBNB.
Booking is also pretty scummy. There was a blog post a few years ago from a hotel that always showed up as sold out, even it had plenty empty rooms. In the end it was a "feature" where other hotels could "promote" their business in a city so it would show up first, but the competition would also be listed as unavailable to force visitors into the promoted business. The other thing is that booking will show "only one room left" to pressure you into booking right now, but what ot actually means is that a hotel might only allocate 20 of 100 rooms to booking, and still has 81 free rooms if you call them directly.
I stopped using them the minute they said they had to store a copy of my ID.
Depending on country, that might be the law.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
