Airbnb: Dream or Nightmare?

[quote=“K9KarmaCasa, post:11, topic:8305, full:true”] @Chris, I asked on another thread where you got your figure of 80% of Air listings are commercial establishments. You must not have seen the post.
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Ah, this was in a German article, about AirBnB in Berlin.
A data analyst, using the AirBnB API did the statistics on a few big and popular city’s.

They showed that in cities like Amsterdam, London, Paris, Tokyo and others. 80% of the hosts that had a complete house/apartment listed had multiple of them listed.

A few weeks later Berlin put a ban on full apartment/house listings. The number of listings dropped by 50% in a day.

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They said the analyst was using wrong and outdated data.
So they did not deny there was a host with 250 listings, knowing AirBnB they probably looked him up and kicked him from the site after the question by the filmmakers.

You must separate the users/hosts form the company.

"AirBnB is bad because I had a bad guest"or “AirBnB is good because my guest was very nice”.
This is not true, you do not judge a supermarket by the package of milk you get from them? You judge them by the service they give you.

AirBnB is just a channel, that connects guests with hosts. They have a very good marketing strategy, and have a smart way to make hosts work for them.

But as a company, it is just like any other big company. Maybe they started with some good ideals, but like always they went overboard as soon as the money started flowing in.

In my area, AirBnB isn’t that big. People have rented spaces long before AirBnB existed, and will still do it after AirBnB has left the stage. The playingfield is very level here, there are strict rules for private rentals, and there is no way to avoid them.

In big cities however, AirBnB is very disruptive.

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So presumably Her Majesty is taking in Airbnb guests at Buckingham Palace?

:wink:

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That would be hilarious. And I would book it.

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OMG I would be there in a jiffy.

Jesting aside Airbnbs of whole properties in London (and I’ll bet places like NYC) is no joke… It really makes things hard for the locals. One place that has completely changed due to airbnb is Barcelona … And not for the better. I met a guy at Open who started with one listing on Airbnb and now has over 50 listings… No lie part of me was envious… In the same way I envy people who bought a house in London for 50k 20 years ago and are now sitting on property worth a million.

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I worked as a journalist for nine years & my family has been in the newspapers & magazine industry for generations. BELIEVE ME, the program was totally defamatory. I’ve had rentals for the last 35 years & airbnb has provided the best experience to date. Airbnb is so much better than other rental systems. The program slandered a very good accommodation system - the best I’ve found so far. I hope the makers get sued & ABC TV in Australia have to pay a fortune. “Dream or nightmare?” just ran in Australia and my business has totally died. Just got an email from airbnb that bookings in Townsville are down by 10%. Any other hosts experiencing the same thing after the show ran in Australia or elsewhere?

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SO WHAT IF THERE ARE COMMERCIAL LISTINGS? Why is this so deplorable?

I do not see why someone with 250 listings is so bad. Please explain.

I thought you were a journalist ?

An odd question for someone who should be used to looking at things from a number of different angles.

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For accurate analysis in any field, be it journalism, law, medicine etc, there needs to be evidence. There is no evidence to show that 250 listings is reprehensible. As there is no evidence that 250 listings is unethical, there is no reason to treat it as unethical - enviable yes, but naughty? Hardly.

I’m in Perth and haven’t noticed a difference.

I also saw the programme and didn’t think it was defamatory. I actually thought it was pretty accurate. One point they raised was that AirBNB arose from this idea of a sharing economy and experiencing life as a local. However, it’s now become a lot more corporate. In the original concept, the host would share their home; not rent out 250 rooms.

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Bad, reprehensible, unethical, deplorable? You must have been a tabloid journalist. Chris and J Wang simply pointed out that some “hosts” have a lot of commercial properties. Chris used the word hilarious. If your business has “totally died” then I can imagine that you’re upset so I guess that accounts for your over the top language.

Some of us host a room in our home. We like the original concept of Airbnb and we like imagining that we really are part of a sharing economy that helps to make the world a smaller place. That has been my experience and no one who offers 250 properties or even 25 is offering the same experience.

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Because AirBnB claims to be “A sharing economy platform, helping people people to make ends meet”.

On itself having 250 listing is not a problem (as long as local law allows it), but AirBnB denying it is.

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No, it wasn’t.
The first half was, I agree. The first have was just a collection of extreme cases.

The second part was much better, it was about the company, and what AirBnB is doing to local communities.

Most host do not like to bite the hand that feeds them, but they should open their eyes. AirBnB is not the nice fuzzy warm socially involved business they claim to be.

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I’m not using the word “deplorable”. Please read what K9 and Chris have said. Also, there is very good evidence, at least in my area, that and excessive number of STR like Airbnb have impacted certain neighborhoods in a negative way.

Finally found it; yes, 2nd half more about Airbnb.

I didn’t say it was deplorable. All I know is that if you are running a hotel but calling it Airbnb to escape regulations and taxes, it’s not good. Also, I would not want my neighborhood turned into a haven for STRs for obvious reasons.

Hi @Christine_Finlay

I’m a former journalist too and didn’t find the programme that bad at all to be honest. Just what I would expect from that sort of fly on the wall type programming.

Of course they will focus on some of the horror stories but to be honest the guy who let his London pad out on New Years to a young visitor and left a Banksy on the wall came across as a bit of a wally - you’d have to be pretty damm stupid to do that.

As a journalist I couldn’t see anything slanderous about it. What did you feel was factually inaccurate.

Also surprised you’re attributing your drop in bookings to the programme. I am in the UK and network with other hosts locally and in other parts of the country. None of us have seen any drop in bookings and none of my recent guests or those inquiring have mentioned the programme.

Hope you get an upturn soon.

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Hi Helsi
Thanks for the good wishes, but business has still died completely after the program. As to defamation, well the determining Australia legal tests for it are 1. does the public need to know? I don’t think so as airbnb in Australia has proved the best system for me as an accommodation provider & my guests all said they had great experiences with it too. So the negative cherry picked stuff was not representative & so gutter press, designed to shock rather than give accurate analysis. 2. Is it truthful? here again, no it was biased & designed to shock. The bias and knowledge gaps of the focus on the small portion of horror stories was inaccurate. I’ve been on both sides of the fence getting and giving accommodations & airbnb has given by far the best experience so far.