Airbnb has a terrible reputation in my area (Tempe, AZ). I recently tried to locally promote my Airbnb in the "Nextdoor" app, which is used widely here. My post turned into a huge, ugly thread of locals trashing Airbnb and demanding that cities in metro-Phoenix ban Airbnbs. Their complaints included:
A) Airbnb has "caused" or "worsened" our severe housing shortage because so many properties have become STR investments instead of places people can live long term.
B) Airbnbs have taken over formerly-quiet neighborhoods and apartment complexes; residents feel surrounded by party STRs,
C) residents no longer have neighbors they can know and have a sense of community with because of absent STR owners
D) homeowners' fear their property value and ability to sell are damaged by having STRs around them, because "no one wants to buy a house or condo next to an Airbnb."
I found myself defending my Airbnb: it's just a private room+bathroom for 1-2 people attached to my home; not big enough for parties; noise and parking are well-controlled; it helps me afford the mortgage and increasing taxes on my historic home, allowing me to keep and maintain it, instead of selling to developers. My defense garnered some empathy and support from locals who replied with things like: That's the "right way" to do an STR, and they are "totally fine with STRs where the homeowner lives on the property." A few other host-present STR owners also chimed in to defend themselves and me. No host-absent STR owners have spoken up.
VERY IRONIC:
While navigating this vitriol, trying to defend my STR and others like it, I haven't been able to ignore the sad irony that mine is exactly the type of place that was once the core of Airbnb's positive reputation--charming, unpretentious, budget-friendly, with the host on-site--but is now the opposite of what the company seeks to be known for. Small, suburban STRs with an on-site host were drastically devalued and/or decimated through Airbnb's Summer Update fiasco. Airbnb now only really cares about glossy, professionally-shot, images of high-end properties that bring in giant payments.
I remember, some years ago, when the hotel industry was railing against Airbnb for disrupting the hospitality industry (like taxis railed against Uber), and so many of us defended Airbnb (and Uber) because they had a "by the people, for the people" sensibility to them, along with hostels and other online platforms, like "Couch Surfing," which were all part of a "community-based, budget-travel" revival. That was such a fun time to travel! I was a mid-career education professional (read: working hard for low pay), and thoroughly enjoyed staying in Airbnbs and hostels around the US and world, meeting friendly hosts and other guests, loving the exchange of budget-friendly payments for quaint, rustic, basic, community-feeling accommodations! I gained so many great memories and friends from those times.
As a traveler, Airbnb has lost that former appeal for me, and I've lost confidence that its search engine will help me see all that's available among those types of accommodations (it doesn't allow me to sort by price; defaults my searches toward glossy pictures of higher-end properties; etc.). And, of course, as a host, I've been very negatively impacted Airbnb's new direction. The Summer Updates:
A) halted my and others' bookings for several weeks, without sufficient explanation or support from Airbnb
B) made finding small, suburban, "non-category" STRs like mine impossible for a few weeks, then permanently less-likely to be found than it was last year (I maintain a 4.99-5.00 start rating / had more than 100 5-star reviews over the past year)
C) drove prices down for all STRs in my area so drastically, my current nightly price is still 50% or less of last year's at this time. This is still the trend throughout my area.
D) increased my overhead, forcing me to pay for a channel manager, because I had to list my place on other platforms (booking.com, VERBO, etc.) to get bookings.
While I am hearing from my community that my host-present model is the ONLY type of Airbnb they support and want to allow here, Airbnb has decided my value is insignificant and unworthy of its focus. Cities like mine have been changing their laws to prevent STRs with absent owners from "taking over" communities, so STRs like mine--under-appreciated by Airbnb--could become the only type allowed here. Time will tell...
