It does concern me, @Alexandra316 , for a few reasons:
1. The bad publicity around this particular case shines a light on the mockery that Airbnb has made of it's own standards. Specifically, the Authenticity and Reliability standards found here:
https://www.airbnb.ca/trust?locale=en
If the public is lead to believe that the company does not take its own policies seriously, how much faith will new users have that they will be protected when traveling? Bookings, therefore, will drop as fewer people use the platform.
The repercussions as a host are obvious, and something that is discussed ad nauseam here in the community centre: if guests believe that policies and terms are not going to be enforced, why should they care to follow host's rules/standards or even engage in common decency or behavioural mores? They may feel (correctly) that there will be no consequences to poor behaviour and thus, hosts are left with potential damages, cleaning headaches, illegal activities in their premises, or even worse. The entire enterprise becomes a race to the bottom.
2. Have you ever read the comments that follow stories like this? I realize that often the kinds of people who feel compelled to comment on news stories do not represent the vast majority of people I would consider to be reasonable. With that said, the negativity that gets spread to the general population of people reading reputable new sites through these comments, cannot be understated. The vast majority of readers are unlikely to be Airbnb users. Dollars to doughnuts, if I were unfamiliar with the platform and read the comments (many of which are about the commenters bad experiences), you can bet I would never, EVER be tempted to join. Result: an ever smaller pool of guests being chased by a much larger pool of hosts. As above, as were are forced to compete with each other for less business, prices drop, standards drop and again - a race to the bottom.
3. Personally, I have struggled with my social conscience about using my apartment as a short term rental, as the rental stock in my small city is badly undersupplied. I've justified it to myself thus far by knowing that my offering has never been part of the city's rental stock, so I haven't removed anything and by knowing that I am serving a market (mainly younger and older travelers whose funds are limited). Sadly, though, as these types of stories pop up, and as the STR market, of which Airbnb has become the face, is demonized, I feel we all run the risk of becoming pariahs in our communities. I have reasonably thick skin, but I'm not sure how much of a bollicking I'm willing to take from my neighbours. As this type of publicity becomes more prevalent,I expect I will stop hosting.
4. I recently read Dan Ariely's excellent book, "Predictably Irrational". In it, he discusses the dangers inherent in mixing social (doing a "favour") and market (charging for a thing) norms, which is precisely what Airbnb has built their brand upon (calling us hosts and guests, but money is changing hands). As we become more mainstream, more people will become caught up in the strange duality of the two, leading to more people being disappointed, simply because neither the social nor the market expectation is being fully met. Result: Ever increasing poor publicity, 'cause ain't nobody happy.
The original model of Airbnb was brilliant. No capital expenditures or inventory costs, getting hosts and guests to provide service and support for each other, rather than needing to pay an army of service teams, making a system that relied upon social norms rather than market norms. Brilliant!
However, I am very concerned about the sustainability of the model - especially as it grows to include investor class hosts, ultra-luxe properties, hotels, experiences and even days long trips - the multitude of all of these things is setting expectations too big for the original model to contain or service.
Gee, I really do waffle on. Sorry for the monster post.