Airbnb Union in Your City

1

Has anyone else fantasized about this? That all hosts in your city would band together to establish minimum base rates for listings?

Where I live, rates for a private room in an actual dwelling run from $30 with an average around $80 per night. A lot of rooms are $40 per night. I’ve been fantasizing about all hosts establishing a minimum rate of $70 per night. Dirt cheap (gross) hotels start at $60 per night, but most are $100+.

Obviously I see the inherent difficulty in actually implementing this, given how Airbnb operates.

Forming a coalition like this would probably be easier in a smaller city. I think it boils down to the ability to communicate with all hosts and gaining buy-in from them.

Also I wonder about the legality of forming a union of sorts.

So yes, a fantasy, but a lovely one at that. This is a thread to play around with the idea.

2

This would probably be considered price fixing, which is against Federal Law.

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3

Please explain this to me.

4

A union is for collective representation with an employer, a cartel (what you are really suggesting) is an association for the purpose of price fixing. The latter happens all the time, but at restaurants and golf courses over drinks.

5

Oh, and if the arrival is in the near future, like this weekend, it is rude to not write back and “thank you for the information but we have decided to book elsewhere.”

I have not noticed that AirBNB potential guests are more polite than the general population.

6

Alright. Then let’s assume hosts have achieved employee status with Airbnb.

7

That’s different and a whole other realm (collective bargaining for wages, etc).

8

I admitted the idea is a fantasy. I’m looking for responses from people who want to toss the idea around. What would it be like, pros, cons, effects, etc.