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Airbnb Fires Back, Accuses Hotel Industry Of Punishing the Middle-Class (thehill.com)
According to a legal documents, the American Hotel and Lodging Association (lobbying group for hotels in the U.S.) kicked off a plan last year to fight back Airbnb and other home-sharing services with a $5.6 million annual budget. Airbnb has responded to the revelation. From a report: The company's head of policy, Christopher Lehane, accused hoteliers of price-gouging customers and called their fight against Airbnb a "campaign to punish the middle-class" in a letter. It's only the latest salvo in a long fight between Airbnb and the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), which believes the startup is cutting into its business. [...] In a letter to the AHLA, Airbnb accused the group of trying to hurt middle-class property owners. The Airbnb head of policy argued that "we ought to be able to agree that the middle-class family that shares their home while traveling is not a commercial operator running a business." In its minutes, the AHLA alleged that many of the listings on Airbnb are operated by commercial entities. Lehane also accused the AHLA of being inconsistent on homesharing. He said the group's board meeting showed support for "the rights of property owners to occasionally rent out a room or their home."
"We are just going to lobby to make your idea Illegal!" How Pathetic! :-P
Let's be honest.
AirBnB is "Home Shareing" about as much as Uber is "Ride Sharing".
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
AirBNB is causing property investors to buy up condos/homes with the pure intention of putting them up on AirBNB. This is driving up home prices by causing an artificial inventory shortage where entire blocks of cities don't have a resident, only AirBNB renters.
This hurts the middle class.
[Source: Harvard Law & Policy Review - http://harvardlpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/10.1_10_Lee.pdf]
And yes we have overhead. We pay ourselves. We pay for the space, the utilities, replacement sheets, towels, soap, etc.
But the bottom line we make a tidy profit at the end of the month on a nice apartment. Why else would you stay in business?
I support restrictions. AirBnB shoild.be owner occupied, and limited to a few rooms. Many cities have this already.
It really is a problem where cities don't have effective laws regulating bed and breakfasts as opposed to hotels.
I live in a city where rental properties are hastily being converted to Airbnb rentals at an alarming rate.
Many middle class folks, myself included have been recipients of no-fault evictions as landlords rush to cash in on the short-term rental craze.
At least in my city, Airbnb drives up the price of property, making the dream of home ownership an increasingly distant fantasy for many in the middle class.
Sure when I travel, I can more easily afford a room for a night, but I'm a lot more concerned with the affordability of a the property I have to rent longterm. One day I hope to afford a mortgage, but I don't know how that will happen if every property gets converted in to an ad-hoc hotel.
Now if you happen to be one of the lucky middle-class people who already owns 1 or more properties, you might be able to make a little money with Airbnb, but for the most part Airbnb is doing nothing to help the middle class.
How is keeping residential areas residential punishing the middle class? Don't the middle class have homes that would benefit from not having a loud party next to them every weekend?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Why can't the middle class also buy up condos/homes and put them on AirBNB?
Get a clue... the middle class lacks the free money to buy an extra house just to rent out. Many in the middle class are often themselves renting because they don't have the free money to buy even a house for themselves, nevermind a spare one to rent out... meanwhile they are being evicted from those rentals so the owner can rent it by the day more lucratively on sites like airbnb.
Your solution to them being kicked out their rental to make room for airbnb, is to buy 2 houses; so that they too can benefit from airbnb!
"Let them eat cake!" am i right?
I own a second home that I bought and fixed up to rent. That was the fruit from a year when I bought three properties with the aim of either flipping them or fixing then up and keeping then as rentals -- flipped the second and the third burned down during construction. I made less than $50K last year. Your definition of upper class would include me, and that's ridiculous.
damaged by dogma
You do understand how AirBnB works, right? The guests pay AirBnB to find hosts. The hosts pay AirBnB to find guests. AirBnB makes sure everyone gets paid. No different from Orbitz, or Ebay, or Amazon. Or are those all passing fads too?
And how does anything you said have anything to do with crowdsourcing and a sharing economy? We get paid to provide a service. The guests pay to use the service. We pay an agent to make it happen.
$50k is twice the average American's income. I make around that much, and it's going to be a lifelong struggle to ever own a FIRST home before I die. That you've apparently bought at least four homes (your own, the rental, the one you flipped, and the one that burned down) makes you spectacularly rich beyond my wildest dreams, and I'M already spectacularly rich by most Americans' standards. Like someone else in this thread already said, I can easily afford anything I want -- except a house. If you've got several, you are rich, period.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
I made less than $50K last year. Your definition of upper class would include me, and that's ridiculous.
Time for a bit of introspection, I think.
No, the idea that someone who makes $50k per year should be considered "upper class" is indeed ridiculous, no introspection required. A person is not "upper class" just because they make their money from real estate. To be sure. deriving wealth from investment rather than from working for an employer is part of the definition, but there are other aspects to consider. For one thing, the income has to be significantly above average, which is not the case here. Historically speaking, one's family background played an even larger part than wealth in determining one's social status—a merchant might be wealthier than the average aristocrat, but would still not be considered "upper class" for the simple reason of not being born into the aristocracy.
"The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Oh good, then people renting suburban homes are practically immune to being evicted by owners who want to turn them into Airbnb rentals.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
I make below median for my area and own 5 houses. I can't afford to buy a house where I work so I rent there. The other 5 I bought gradually, and all are mortgaged. They barely pay for theirselves but in 30 years when the mortgages are paid off I will have a modest retirement income source.
You can call me upper class, but the fact that my income is below median and I can't afford a house where I live makes your definition quite strange. I do a lot of other things that are strange for upper class, such as doing most of the handyman work myself, at least when I lived near the houses.
I've helped several tenants get their shit together and guided them through buying their own house. One of them has several houses now and calls me a role model. All my tenants are grateful for me helping them have a decent place to live at a fair price.
Working poor live paycheck to paycheck, a single setback can often result in bankruptcy or eviction. Upper class I'd say is people in the top quintile of income. There are plenty of people like myself, solidly middle class, who have eked out a modest real estate portfolio. I don't know why you are determined to see us as upper class, but the attitude isn't helpful.
Man, you really need that seminar!