Can someone please remind me why we're so concerned with preserving the health of major hotel chains? Cause that is one thing I do not understand at all.
Travel is changing. Hospitality is changing. Airbnb can choose to be a leader in that or they can choose to stumble.
I'm not going to get on a high horse about being a hands-on host, (the angle is not flattering) but I don't think people who provide shared rooms in their home are better or worse than me. Although, full disclosure, I would like to point out, our homeowners association made a rule that we can't have paid guests in our own condo and then several of the board members listed their properties on Airbnb - so I have a certain amount of intolerance for people who say one thing and do another. That is why we bought a second home and began renovations. Our area has a very high demand for unconventional lodgings. With the Howard Johnson's charging $320. a night on some summer weekends, I don't feel the least bit guilty about "cutting into their business" quite the contrary.
The thing is, I think we're buying in to how these arguments are being framed and what Airbnb WAS instead of looking at the situationas it is right now.
Do I need to protect the wealth of shareholders and hotel owners who are already wealthy? No I do not.
Do I have a right to use my property as I choose, provided it falls within the limits of my neighborhood zoning? Yes, I do. That is a fundemental right of ownership.
And Airbnb should be fighting for that principle, not crumbling under the weight of a few rich companies that have the time and the employees to put pressure on local city councils, all the while trying to make it look like the objections are coming from the grass roots.
I cannot support the rights of the people who are being delisted in NYC, and there are a lot of them, because they are renting - they down own the property they lease out. The risk of damage, insurance, etc. is not theirs to take. But I can, and do, support owners in doing what they want with their homes, especially if it means the difference between keeping and losing their home, which it certainly did for us. I had heart surgery 18 months ago. Without our Airbnb property, we would be bankrupt.
I think, because the original Airbnb guys started out as a few young guys in a rental apartment, they have a very weak understanding of what it means to own a home and cannot truly stand up for the rights of those who support their current lifestyle.
I also think that whatever the original version of Airbnb was, it is not that way now. Pretending it ever will be that way again is, frankly, stupid.
If the company continues down this road, I feel fairly certain they will break their business. They've made a lot of mistakes - this "community center" is a good example of one of them, the office design that copies "their favorite hosts" listings, was another. But this is going to make most of the money coming into their business look for another home.
Some hotels should fail. They should change into something else. They're a product of another age when people traveled in a different way. There's nothing to fear there. That's how life moves forward.