Is it time to no longer use Airbnb?

Is it time to no longer use Airbnb?

After we spent years on the platform, we ask ourselves whether it is finally time to no longer use Airbnb

When we moved to the country in 2018, our new neighbors received us with a noticeable relief.

'We are so happy that they don't transform it into a holiday home!' They told us.

, like the seller, they feared that the London couple, who bought this quirky, dilapidated, 300 -year -old house, would immediately list it at Airbnb and move back to the south.

We understood their relief, because a constant current of strangers would certainly change the character of our enchanting cobblestone street. We assured you, no, this house was there for living.

alt = “Richmond Castle rises above the city”> Dream time Our city Richmond has its fair share of holiday homes

I had to think of this conversation recently after reading a contribution by the travel blogger Adventurous Kate, in which she criticized the use of Airbnb.

I will not lie: We are long -time users and supporters of the service. We were enthusiastic about why we use Airbnb, shared the Airbnb label and examined how important it is to be honest in Airbnb reviews.

We believed the hype. We believed that Airbnb would democratize travel, tear huge hotel chains and equip the little man's bags. Instead, it has become a company giant with a pronounced effect on the local communities. Here are just a few of the accusations against the company that prompted us to ask whether it is finally time to set the use of Airbnb.

It hells local communities

Airbnb was originally developed to rent people free of charge and earn some additional money. The constant residents of an apartment would continue to exist, which means that the essential composition of an apartment building or a local road would remain unchanged.

alt = "is it time to no longer use Airbnb: a house with lock"> Shutterstock transforms Airbnb apartments into replacement hotel room?

Unfortunately, landlords who had once rented their real estate to long -term tenants recognized that they could earn more money with short -term rents, and therefore laid their real estate to Airbnb. By 2017, more than half of all offers on the website referred to entire properties and not on guest rooms.

This reduced the housing stock for long -term tenants in cities around the world, from Barcelona and Amsterdam to Boston and New Orleans. "Units" that were once inhabited by constant residents were handed over to a revolving door for visitors, which undermined the local sense of community. Like a resident of Edinburgh expressed it: "It changes the way you feel at home".

That drives rents to the height

Investigations by Harvard Business Review showed that an increase in Airbnb ads by 1% is the cause of an increase in rental prices by 0.018%. This may seem small until you consider that Airbnb's growth is about 44 % in the year. Overall, this means that Airbnb's growth contributes to about a fifth of the average annual increase in US rents.

We cannot say safely whether this is reflected elsewhere, but it is logical to assume that reducing the offer on long -term rents is the costs of the still available.

It does not pay its “fair share” of taxes

Airbnb was accused of not paying his “fair share” of taxes. In 2016, the 23-billion pound company paid £ 314,000 on British taxes and a little more than 90,000 pounds of French taxes. The company was examined in 2018 and again in 2019 by the British tax authorities.

It is true that Airbnb is hardly alone when it comes to taxation about Big Tech's approach, but that does not particularly fit Airbnbs friendly, popular "Let’s Share" branding.

alt = “”> Shutterstock The strategy of Airbnb does not fit well with its friendly, folk branding

It behaves like a tyrant

Airbnb filed lawsuits against several city councils who tried to alleviate the effects on the local communities.

WIRED reports: "In November 2018, Airbnb Boston sued in front of a federal court and fought a regulation that aimed to prevent hosts from converting houses and apartments into de facto hotels."

The company also submitted complaints against San Francisco, Miami Beach, Palm Beach and other places.

Some commentators, such as David Heinemeier Hansson, the co -founder of BaseCamp, criticized Airbnb's ethics, including his decision to operate in the occupied West Bank, and his approach in terms of surveillance and data protection. In the meantime, anecdotal evidence and empirical analyzes indicate that the racial problem of Airbnb still exists.

FAZIT

We at ATLAS & Boots no longer use Airbnb abroad and decide for hotels and pensions instead. We use it in London when we visit friends and family, but we never book an entire house. We always stay with one of two hosts, which by the way has helped us find exactly what Airbnb seems to have lost: a chance to establish a sensible connection.

I would like to conclude that not everything has been lost and that this upgrowth upstart can find himself again-but I don't really think so. I think it's too far on the way to expansion. Instead of stricter regulation (Airbnb combats at every turn), consumers only have to coordinate with their wallet and set the use of Airbnb. Peter and I are not quite there yet, but we're on the way.

We hope you are too.

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main picture: Shutterstock

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