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Amsterdam Using Airbnb Listings To Identify Illegal Hotels
An anonymous reader writes "In a move that might dampen the popularity of Airbnb's site for Amsterdam, the city government is now using the accommodation listing service as a source of tips about illegal rental property. 'Airbnb is never a smoking gun,' said Jan-Jaap Eikelboom, spokesman for the city of Amsterdam, regarding use of the service. But the government does use Airbnb and its competitors to compare its own nuisance data with street listings on sites like Airbnb, and has been doing so for a while, he said. This combined information can come in handy when investigating suspicious buildings and can help with spotting illegal activity, he said."
I for one have never heard of it.
Governments want information. On its own people, on others. Information from places like this is often free and requires no formal request to use or get. Which makes it a win win. This type of thing is only going to get more prevalent. Soon, if not already, massive systems will filter all this data and track everyone, off nothing but open, public and free information. Add that to what they are able to obtain from private companies such as Facebook and twitter etc. It is scary how much governments, not even your own know or can know about you or a place.
thats news to me.
Amsterdam needs to regulate hotels due to serious safety concerns. You know, checking for fire code regulations, that kind of thing. If the city doesn't do it, then people just 'trust' the people running the place to ensure its safety. Last year at least two people died, and Amsterdam is serious.
http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/82520/uitslaande-brand-nieuwezijds-voorburgwal
Few were surprised to later learn that building was being used as an illegal, unregulated hotel.
If anyone can rent their 'whatever' via airbnb, then such an unregulated and dangerous market would flourish.
Three years ago I set up a group trip to Amsterdam. Two weeks, 16 people, everything paid for up-front (food, transportation, accommodations). When I take groups on trips to large cities, I choose apartments because you get to live amongst the locals instead of being in a hotel where you get 'American-style service and amenities' (I can get that in America, thank you very much). I took a special trip ahead to set everything up and check everything out. Seven luxury apartments all in the historical center, all beautiful... everything checked out to my liking. I rented from three different agencies (web-based), all of which I visited in-person on my scouting trip and everything seemed legit.
When we arrived four months later, I was warned by our drivers that he needed help to sneak the luggage into each apartment so nobody might see us. Turns out, it's illegal to rent apartments in the city of Amsterdam. Foreigners (and even locals) had been buying up properties at a rapid rate and then renting them out to tourists for huge profits. After signing away over US $70k for the accommodations, I found out we were all breaking the law, and worse, if we were found out we would all be kicked out immediately with no refunds. I have arranged many trips like this to different countries, and I was completely blind-sided.
Thankfully nobody was vacated from their apartment, but I must say it added a great deal of stress to the trip!
In a city where there isn't enough property to go around for the locals, having the city converted into makeshift hotels and apartment rentals creates a problem for the local population. Prices soar as the supply dries up and people are forced to move outside the city center and commute when (by design) they shouldn't have to.
It also kills the flavor of the community. Anyone who has ever spent any time in Prague can attest to this. Almost no locals live in the heart of the city - everything has been converted to hotels and vacation rentals. I talked to dozens of Czechs in the two weeks I was there and only two of them lived in the city. To get a feel for the local people you have to leave the heart of the city (beautiful but total tourist trap).
So I can see why Amsterdam has taken these measures, I just wish they were communicating it better to travelers.
You what?!! Want to do something with your own property WITHOUT government approval!!!
Fine the B*ast*ards!
1. Change the Terms & Conditions of Use to List VERY HIGH use charges
for non-individual users, such as City of Amsterdam;
2. Track URL's of non-individual (eg, City of A..., etc.) users;
3. Collect stated fees!
If corporate or gov't users of Air BnB's web site can -save- big,
they can afford to -pay- big, for the privilege.
(Air BnB can even make the service Free for -others-
by charging & collecting huge fees from City of Amst.
etc.)
Of course, all users need to be made well aware, that
their addresses could be tracked by City users, et al.
Those with nil to hide can continue as they do,
without worry. The others can find other ways
to advertise their services.
Q.E.D.
I would do the same thing if I were a municipality wanting to crack down on illegal hotels - you get a nicely organized publicly available list of illegal hotels (that's what they are to dutch law without a permit). The municipality wants to keep housing semi-available in Amsterdam (i.e. rent controlled apartments used to live in, not sublet to others) [1], hotels safe [2], probably collect taxes (amongst others our 'tourist tax'). If somebody is in social housing and rents out an apartment like this they might stand to lose the right to live there (this is after all abusing a public resource, and there are plenty of people that need/want housing). As someone living in the historical center of Amsterdam the last thing you need is stag / hen parties going on at your neighbors house all the time - so the cracking down on that stuff is no problem in my book!
Great business plan of air-bnb, collect arbitrage fees from illegal behavior whilst not assuming risks themselves :)
[1] http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/living/housing/housing-policy
[2] This 'hotel' fire that killed 2 people last year is probably an extra reason why the Amsterdam municipality is cracking down on illegal hotels: http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/82704/centrum-verdubbelt-toezicht-op-illegale-hotels (in dutch).
Extremely common? It's really different from country to country; the Swedish market is strictly controlled, while just next door in Norway the market is free and open.
It's not just in Amsterdam but also in New Amsterdam - this is playing now on New York Public Radio's morning news program:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newtechcity/blogs/new-tech-city-blog/2013/feb/05/nyc-tells-airbnb-hosts-dont-get-too-cosy/
You what? Want to do something without a business license, in conflict with zoning laws and the fire code, WITHOUT government approval!!!
When it's run like a hotel, not a rental apartment, it's the city's business. You ignorant twat!
It's because he's probably American, they foolishly trust businesses over their own government. Northern Europeans typically have greater faith in their own government than a business.
When the legal hotels allow smoking in the rooms and supply bongs, then the demand for so-called illegal hotels will diminish. My apartment rentals in the Dam have all been selected for herb enjoyment and have worked out well.
Oh, so people sometimes fail to see the importance of words. "Illegally rented property". Given that you own property, that is to say, property that is owned by person x, it would be illegal to rent said property to whomever you want?
I see freedom must be dead in some parts of the world.
You basically need a hotel license for rentals of less than 30 days. Most often its neighbors turning in neighbors due to the congestion of increased traffic. But there was NY Time stories of people getting busted for advertising on airbnb and craigslist. Its grounds for a losing a lease, which is hard to find in NYC.
Short term rentals of private property. Can be anything from a couch or air matress to bedroom to full housing unit.
It was of the Y-Combinator's business incubators most successful startups.
Just spent the weekend in Amsterdam with my wife.
Found a great hotel, with good prices, via the web. (Tripadvisor, which I find to be a good resource).
Everything was safe, clean, good breakfast etc.
Out of curiosity, I just checked airbnb for both AMS and my home tome.
The deals did not look good compared to genuine hotels.
It's strawmen all the way down these days.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Jan-Jaap Eikenboom = John Jacob Oaktree!
Ah, the Dutch.
Tom Geller
70k for 16 people for 2 weeks = 300USD/day/person (roughly â250/person/day). That's a horrible price and as a European I can't believe that any rational person could be suckered into paying that much ... lol.
Really, try to find a hotel with a lot of space + kitchens + washing machines in the middle of Amsterdam.
You can find some hotel rooms where the price is similar but they will have VERY tiny rooms.
As in any real-estate based transaction, you pay a ton for prime location.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I rented an amazing apartment in Amsterdam last summer. I did the research, found a highly rated apartment with a beautiful canal view in one of the nicest parts of town. Had a kitchen and laundry for a week at a better price than a cheap hotel. I was just booking for 2 and did not consider whether it was licensed. If I were booking for 16, I'd make sure to check that a place is properly licensed beforehand.
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
I wonder whether it's the fact that they keep getting their bicycles stolen
Does Doc Louis of Punch-Out!! have anything to do with this wave of bike theft?
> You can find some hotel rooms where the price is similar but they will have VERY tiny rooms.
This! The $400/night place I stayed in Amsterdam last summer was so tiny that I could stand on the bed and touch both walls.