I think there are dark days ahead for hosting sites like Airbnb, Homeaway, Stayz, Flipkey, Holiday lettings and Trip advisor.
Up until recently, tourism authorities and local governments virtually turned a blind eye to home hosting sites! They were regarded as a ‘curio’…. A fad if you like, that would run its course and slowly ebb back into obscurity. Some of them even saw it as positive because it would increase tourism!
Instead of that the whole hosting industry is growing at such a rate that it is now seriously hurting the traditional hospitality and tourism industry……And thanks to gaming they have a massive pot of money available to push for change!
Now, in this country (Australia) Tourism Australia are joining forces with the AHA (Aust Hotels Association) to seriously lobby governments to put pressure on the whole concept of home hosting. And I think we are probably lagging behind other countries. Some local juristictions are prohibiting the offering or selling of prepared food to guests. Hong Kong now requires anyone hosting individual guests for less than 28 days to be licenced and I believe the same is happening in Quebec in Canada…..it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world follows suit!! And when that happens the number of host will fall through the floor….it just won’t be worth it!
Now maybe something is afoot, but utter silence is all I have had. What has Airbnb’s reaction to this inevitable challenge to individual hosts…..Zippo…Zilch….Goose egg as Judge Judy would say! All we see is handsome people laughing together to a backdrop of some exotic location. They appear to be ‘sitting on their hands’. If they are doing anything it seems what they are doing is a bit like that little Dutch boy putting his fingers in the holes in the **bleep** trying to hold the North Sea back!!
I could see this coming some time back, and I suggested that Airbnb get pro-active and at least sight local government compliance for a hosted space prior to listing! You have to be ready to fight these inevitable challenges and put forward a compliant legitimate face, if you want to be seen as a compliant legitimate industry! But I was politely told that was impossible, it’s like EBay and it will be treated the same as EBay… It's simply puting A in touch with B and the issues would go away.
Well, they won’t, it’s too big now….What’s that old saying …’An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure’!
Time is running out for that ounce of prevention, in fact it probably has run out!
I would like a serious statement from Airbnb as to where they are headed with this….not some Lillie-livered stance like, ’It’s up to you hosts to fight your own battles’. A lot of people have invested a lot of money going down this path on the assurances from Airbnb that this was a desirable, safe and reliable way to make ‘a bit on the side’!!
As I said in another post…..what about it Airbnb…."Where do we go from here"? Cheers….Rob