@Sandy170
Be very, very thankful they're coming nowhere near you. You can bet your life that the lucrative secondary markets they're targeting in this "Roadshow" (now that they've literally bled their primary markets dry - London, Edinburgh, Dublin etc), will simultaneously be subject to an aggressive new-host recruitment drive quietly taking place in the background, and the cities on the roadshow list, will be waaay beyond grossly oversaturated by Christmas.
There are four key areas in the UK where the majority of Airbnb listings (homes, flats, cottages and other properties) are located: namely London, Scotland, the South West and the South East, which collectively account for 73% (163,000) of all listings.
What’s more, these four areas account for 78% (£666 million) of all income generated for hosts in the UK.
The venues for these events (not the usual happy-clappy social gatherings, as confirmed by Admin on a separate thread), have been strategically chosen as part of an extensive and manipulative political/Astroturfing/PR campaign, the purpose of which is for Airbnb to gather specific self-serving "data", in an attempt to shape/force the narrative relating to the introduction of a UK-wide registration system for hosts. Airbnb, of course, will be pushing (hard) for a "self-registration" system, to be overseen and regulated by local authorities, who they're fully aware have neither the budgets, the manpower nor the resources to monitor and enforce effectively
A registration system for Airbnb hosts was introduced here in Ireland in July of last year. As of yesterday, 29/02/2020, less than 3% of all hosts had registered, and the number of listings on Airbnb has actually increased by over 1200 since the new legislation - which was intended to curb the systematic plunder of local ong-term rental stock by commercial entities - was brought in) Similar registration systems that have been implemented in numerous cities worldwide, have also failed miserably, and the numbers of Airbnbs in those regions, continue to skyrocket also (predominantly, with vast inventories managed by "professional" and commercial operators, wiping out swathes of little guys - including many homesharers - in the process)
I've seen (and lived) this same old scenario playing out again and again. Small, local independent hosts in Brighton, Cardiff, Bath, Plymouth, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Isle of Skye and any other venue where this whitewash debacle rolls into town - be afraid. Be very afraid. Regular hosts supporting these events, is like turkeys voting for Christmas.
"Roadshow"?? *bleep* show, more like.