Comments on: Here comes everybody: Why AirBnB is so disruptive

By: Lorenzo

Lorenzo — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:45:11 +0000

So? It’s a good thing if it’s disruptive. Why, do we want to defend the status quo of long-established industries? Business should be made of services which are useful, and competitive. You may call this disruption, I may call it competition. This is like saying that the electric car is disruptive to the oil industry.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:02:30 +0000

I knew, Ian Macphee, that sooner or later, someone will come in about the need to pay taxes. Poor state/govt/municipals – losing out on revenue. Now, we can’t have that, can we?

By: TK

TK — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:56:32 +0000

It seems that most the comments here are from US-based people. Just to highlight that the majority of the growth in Airbnb appears to be from overseas sources. These places often don’t have as restrictive/penal clauses or, if they do, these things aren’t really enforced as strictly as in the US. So, my apartment in Cape Town, South Africa has become hugely popular as I charge a third of the average hotel room in the area.

As for not disclosing contact details, that is to protect their own business. People can easily find a spot on Airbnb and then contact the owner directly, thus putting airbnb out of business. If you use a service, you must pay for it.

By: doug

doug — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:11:03 +0000

Two things. One, the lease issues might be a bump in the road, but people who enjoy hosting will find ways to host guests. I’ve called this new model of subletting the “Trump” model, as it is the exact model used by Trump (except on a large commercial scale). If it becomes more mainstream, the original leasing company will just incorporate a fee, as the “social pressure” combined with market forces will be enough to make sure it eventually happens (the condos down the street are making some extra profit, why shouldn’t we?).

Two: Corporate housing pretty much is this business model for the business traveler. There are a lot of companies who lease year around contract and sublet them out on shorter terms. The average daily rates are substantially lower than a hotel would be. The leasing companies are happy to have vacant units leased.

By: doug

doug — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:02:23 +0000

Two: Corporate housing pretty is this business model for the business traveler. There are a lot of companies who lease year around contract and sublet them out on shorter terms. The average daily rates are substantially lower than a hotel would be. The leasing companies are happy to have vacant units leased.

By: PatriciaB

PatriciaB — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:24:18 +0000

Those who rent their property thru AirBNB do not pay taxes on the stay of the guest.. required of legitimate businessses. In addition most municipalities require if food is available, you must have an inspected kitchen and your homeowners insurance will not cover you for mishaps if your guest gets injured or burns the place down as making an income off a residential property puts the property in a business class insurance (unless you lie to your insurance company). One commentor said they pay property taxes so they think they are legitimate, but they are not. They also are required to pay a sales and room tax. Those who run legitimate businesses must jump thru hoops to comply with all the local, state and federal requirements. Air BNB is promoting “working under the table”. Although I hate the compliance and the taxes that I as a small business person must pay, if you are earning an income you should be paying your fair share as well. As you do not pay your share of the tax issues, other small businesses must pick up the slack due to higher taxes. If Air BNB customers were legal and paid their fair share of taxes and fees for compliance i would not have a problem with this concept.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:48:02 +0000

yes it can be very veru disruptive…i ahd a trio of ytong unruly german college students who didnt nothing but drink cinstantly and were total pigs spraying Axe deodorant all over rthe place and even into my eye…so i had to ask them to leave after 5 days cutting short their vacation wiuth me at 10 pm
but they were totally inconsdsidearte drunks…one even admitted to getting arrested in toronto…before he came to me….so you have to be careful with who you host…

By: Jens Sørensen

Jens Sørensen — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:17:47 +0000

Mathew, there’s a very clear logic behind AirBnB and many other car-sharing services and so forth. It’s a platform for putting underutilized assets to work. It’s nothing new – banks, for example, do the exact same thing for money. AirBnB puts your underutilized property to work. Car-sharing services do the same for cars.

Anything that you can build to put underutilized assets to work technically has the potential do pull what AirBnB did. SETI did it ten years ago already, putting your computer’s available computing power to work in searching for extra-terrestrial life.

The biggest personal investments, a residence and a car, have already been done in this space, and probably make the most sense. Netjets does the same, in a way, for private airplanes. I can’t think of what the next underutilized asset to be optimized this way will be, but it’ll surely come up.

By: Alvin Weng Kit Chin

Alvin Weng Kit Chin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 03:01:37 +0000

There are holiday homes being listed and there are owners whose sole purpose is to provide a true BnB experience. Disruptions typically don’t go mainstream in a short term – its usually stupid initially and appeal to a niche crowd before being adopted by mainstream consumers. What airbnb is already is that it’s a community of like minded people.. it’s not seen as the best way to travel yet, but that community is growing. There are professionally run guesthouses, boutique hotels and BnBs that run on AirBnB. it’s fees are probably slightly cheaper than OTA’s and owners still get to dictate their own rates. It might be awhile more before it truly is seen as a disruptor in the accommodation industry, but the work that they have done has added so much more value to travelers and communities alike. More than the negative impact associated with these rentals.

By: Alvin Weng Kit Chin

Alvin Weng Kit Chin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 02:42:36 +0000

I stayed with an Italian couple in Florence and I’m from Malaysia. I definitely agree with Jenny on the experiencing the culture bit. There are insurances protecting the owner and typically some owners take a refundable deposit.

they had a kitchen which i was welcome to use and the central market was 2 mins away. I have to say despite all the good food in Florence, the best time I had with my wife was actually cooking indoors with the freshest ingredients you can ever find, including freshly made pasta. We shared wine and grappa with our hosts, they had their friends come over, we went out for lunch at THEIR favourite local restaurant. Would I have gotten this same experience at a hotel? Probably not. And to say that hosts/owners are doing the community a huge disservice would be a HUGE disservice to the wonderful hosts I’ve come across in the heart of Tuscany, suburbs in Milan and Rome. There I spent all my money where locals would eat, drink, buy groceries, rent cars, take unsubsidized public transportation to the city, airport, bus stations etc.

As for taxes, i believe its the prerogative of individual hosts, but for each new traveler met destinations of an entire life are shared between us. To say that they, owners/hosts don’t help in promoting destinations is not entirely true.

Experience it. Then criticize.