Platforms like AirBnB only put oil in the fire when it comes to housing crises.
That isn't how human beings work, though, and it never has been. I tend to suspect that a person saying something like this has few if any deep relationships with people who cannot afford to own homes, because the statement shows no compassion for their experience.
What do you mean exactly by "feels like an Airbnb"?
If you want to stay at a place that has a kitchen, and multiple bedrooms, there are suite hotels (eg. Homewood suites) and extended stay hotels. If you want someone to host you, then a bed and breakfast is another type of accommodation.
What if we let people decide what they should/n't do with their own property instead?
This is a distraction for an easy target. It won't help and it will make the quality of hotels worse.
It will also have a lot of under the table deals.
But hey, instead of fixing the real problems, it's easy to attack things some people don't use. They do the same to electric bikes and scooters. Ban ban ban! Things will surely improve!
Problem is those who don't use certain services love banning them and pretend they're fixing some unrelated problem.
AirBnBs I've stayed in the past few years have all been janky, weird, and not really any cheaper than hotels. I don't have to do chores at hotels, and I can always get (and return) the key promptly. I've also been told on several occasions not to let anyone else in the building know I was an AirBnB guest. AirBnB used to be better, but the advent of "professional hosts" with many properties really degraded things. They often have the typical landlord mentality of expecting a lot of reward with little work or risk.
If I have a multi leg journey I'll make sure every other stop is at an Airbnb with a washing machine.
2. 3+ bedrooms. Good luck finding that in Hotels.
3. Things like private hot tubs or pools, BBQ in the backyard, etc are almost unheard of in hotels.
4. Laundry machines.
Whatever the case, despite the existence of the options you list, Airbnb's are still popular. There's clearly some significant differentiator between them and an Airbnb.
- Not wanting staff or service.
- Wanting something that looks and feels like a home rather than a hotel room. This isn't available everywhere.
- Wanting something that isn't shared with a bunch of other hotel guests. (Aside: I have no problems with apartment buildings banning AirBnB/VRBO, because that's much more "cheap hotel substitute that might bother neighbors" than "unique offering that isn't likely to bother anyone".)
- In general, wanting something unique that doesn't tend to exist as a hotel.
Where it ends up in the extreme case is people living on top of each other.
The place you linked to has the equivalent of a studio apartment with no laundry machine going for over 9000 CAD for a month. AirBnB has plenty of one bedrooms going for a third of that.
Airbnb is a nightly rate that competes with hotel pries. Long-term rentals are a monthly rate that is usually much less than the nightly rate of a hotel or Airbnb.
Example: A hotel near my house is about ~$400/night. Or ~$12,000/month. Rent for a 1-bed apartment across the street is about $3000/month.
I might own my own apartment, but I can't turn it into a pub, I can't turn it into a disco, I can't turn it into an auto service garage, I can't grow weed in it, I can't turn it into a shop, all these I can't do because it will negatively affect the life of my neighbors.
I knew an Airbnb host in Italy, he shared with me that by renting to tourist compared to the normal market prices to locals he would make 3 times more. It's a no brainer, but he would gladly accept 1/3 of that if the alternative is 0 (and he did during the pandemic when tourism stopped).
And yet, you stay in them.
How else, besides continued maintenance of that consent, would property rights get their legitimacy?
Also, while I'm not OP, I gave up on Airbnbs a long time ago for the same reasons, and that impression is occasionally refreshed when I stay in an Airbnb that _someone else_ arranged. I will go out of my way to avoid them if it's all up to me.
But there is a psychology to it that is, as you say, hard to pin dow. A hotel that has a random assortment of plates and cutlery in the kitchen (like my last AirBnB did) would feel cheap and tacky. The AirBnB didn't.
The move that Barcelona just made might actually be kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. Good political theater, I guess, but not really moving things in a direction they weren't already going.
> Forcefully seize their apartment because people need it?
The needs of the many come before the needs of the few. Someone said it somewhere across the ocean. But the country where it was said does not heed it at all. The rest of the world does.
Yes and its a major problem. Some locations are already acting out.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/portugal-ends-golden-...
> This is a distraction for an easy target. It won't help and it will make the quality of hotels worse.
Its not a distraction - its just a start. And hotel quality is still what it was before Airbnb and it will stay like that after airbnb goes away. The standards that national and international tourism institutions apply to the hotels has not changed one iota because of airbnb.
> But hey, instead of fixing the real problems
This is the real problem.
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/travel/2023/10/09/fed-u...
The major travel sites all push you to multiple rooms - but lots of hotels now don't have "adjoining room" access (compared to say 30 years ago), and in one case, our 2 rooms were on different floors because of check-in time.
The travel sites are picking up on this and competing with airbnb as well. Typically my experience with those rented homes is a) cheaper than airbnb and b) better service. However, I'm sure they are the same type of superhost company that would be banned in Barcelona.
https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/hotel
Note that style of construction does not seem to be a factor. Many hotels offer freestanding villas or cabins, practically small (sometimes even not so small) houses, and have for a long time. Chains like Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, or Extended Stay America have likewise offered hotel accommodation in the physical form of an apartment for almost as long. Personally, I think the inclusion of housekeeping services during a stay is a big differentiator, perhaps because it demonstrates intent to serve a transient clientele. By contrast, a "dual use" house or apartment that is owner occupied part of the time and rented out part of the time does not show such intent. Neither do the illegal sublets that are behind many Airbnb rentals.
In other words, the physical similarity between a suite hotel (like the one I'm in) and apartments doesn't seem determinative. Rather, what seems to matter is the financial difference between a nightly (or perhaps weekly) guest vs. a longer term lessee. I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, but it does explain why different types of levels of regulation are applicable to each.
P.S. The ones "escaping regulation" are the Airbnbs, not the hotels. Hotels are subject to much more stringent standards wrt safety, sanitation, privacy, billing, etc.
Yes, although a lot of hotels moved away from daily service during the pandemic and stayed there. Which is just fine by me.
If I were to stay longer than a week I'd probably cast my lodging net a bit wider. But hotels (or regular B&Bs, especially outside of cities) meet my needs pretty well for the most part. I have used AirBnB but I'm guessing the standard deviation is higher though I haven't had a bad (small sample) experience.
Even laundry which a number of people mention isn't really a big deal for the most part. I tend to optimize things that can be given a quick wash in the sink. I have stayed in ApartHotels with a laundry room and at B&Bs that will run a cheap load for you for longer trips involving more mud etc. And I've used a wash and fold place on a few occasions. Even as a very light packer, I've never felt the need to do laundry every few days.