I'm still very bullish on Airbnb mainly because it has always been an amazing and easy and often cheap alternative to hotels. I can stay in an actual home of the area I am in which is more authentic to me, whereas every hotel is identical to the one next to it.
However, I do see the NYC and other similar legal red tape being enacted in large US cities as being problematic to their business. I understand, to an extent, the negative aspect of people using suburban homes as single-use rental party homes, but in a big city? Just put reasonable caps on the industry rather than try to blow it out.
Disclosure: I am heavily invested in Airbnb because I like it :)
I have considered using it on recent trips, but if you want a private unit, it ends up being more expensive than a hotel, now that they’re generally subject to all the hotel taxes (plus the cleaning fees). There’s also more uncertainty when using Airbnb, which makes me a little gunshy if I have little room for error (their customer support is awful and time-consuming, in my experience)
Kind of. If you are staying for more than 1 or 2 days it almost always makes sense still to Airbnb a private unit. And if you are booking accomodations for more than a single family, forget about it - you'll be gushing money in a hotel for much less value.
Tiny, cottage-run units are still absolutely available! We run two guest units out of our home. We don't outsource cleaning so we keep the fees low.
You will still find price-conscious, economical units all over Airbnb if you care to look. But I suspect the author doesn't notice them because these are not the types of units the author themselves is looking for. If you are looking for luxury stays in tourist areas, yeah you are going to get a vacation-rental company. Probably the same ones that ran vacation homes in the times before Airbnb was a thing for a comparable price.
I also like to remind people of the perspective. Hotels command a massive monopoly on new construction projects. A 150-unit building full of studio apartments built in an urban area would take a decade of zoning and community approval. But if you call it a hotel and charge exorbitant prices it can be approved and built in less than 180 days. So in a way Airbnb is an act of arbitrage between long and short-term occupancy markets.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 170 ms ] threadHowever, I do see the NYC and other similar legal red tape being enacted in large US cities as being problematic to their business. I understand, to an extent, the negative aspect of people using suburban homes as single-use rental party homes, but in a big city? Just put reasonable caps on the industry rather than try to blow it out.
Disclosure: I am heavily invested in Airbnb because I like it :)
Kind of. If you are staying for more than 1 or 2 days it almost always makes sense still to Airbnb a private unit. And if you are booking accomodations for more than a single family, forget about it - you'll be gushing money in a hotel for much less value.
You will still find price-conscious, economical units all over Airbnb if you care to look. But I suspect the author doesn't notice them because these are not the types of units the author themselves is looking for. If you are looking for luxury stays in tourist areas, yeah you are going to get a vacation-rental company. Probably the same ones that ran vacation homes in the times before Airbnb was a thing for a comparable price.
I also like to remind people of the perspective. Hotels command a massive monopoly on new construction projects. A 150-unit building full of studio apartments built in an urban area would take a decade of zoning and community approval. But if you call it a hotel and charge exorbitant prices it can be approved and built in less than 180 days. So in a way Airbnb is an act of arbitrage between long and short-term occupancy markets.