AirBnB = Media Hype or real concerns?

Question

Short term rentals have been around a long time. Back in the day (longer than I care to admit) everyone looked in the Classified ads for weekly house rentals in Florida to plan their vacation. In 1992 Home Exchange began. AirBnB began in 2008.

Now in 2017 if you are to believe a lot of the stories criminals are running rampant and AirBnB is a conduit for this. Take this linked story out of Nashville where the focus has become that these criminals were using AirBnB to rent. The print story linked below only mentions AirBnB but the TV coverage leads it with "AirBnB renters found with guns and drugs". It has become a hot topic so now it seems there are more and more stories.

Nashville Story

There was no outcry from neighbors when Home Exchange began. Someone correct me but I don't recall hearing AirBnB concerns in 2008 when it began. So why have short term rentals gotten such a bad name in the last 2 years? Tax Revenue? Resistance to change? Or all of a sudden a large number of criminals have decided to STR? Should neighbors be fearful or is this the next new media hype?

Thanks

Keith Smith · Answer

Hotel lobby doesn't like it. In Nashville, I know lots of people that don't even look at hotels when coming in town because they are so expensive. They go directly to AirBnB.

Aaron T. · Answer

If you turn the TV off, all these problems go away. Media is in place to make you fear things. Be smart about your decisions to run a business and you will be ok.

Account Closed · Answer

AirBNB is making the news for all the wrong reasons because in many of the cities/states where it is trying to do business, it is actually breaking the law. Most of the properties aren't zoned for hotel use, the host aren't licensed to run a hotel, the business isn't registered with city/state, tax evasion of course, rapes and sexual assaults, fraud etc. These are real issues. I mean its bad enough for a criminal to sneak into your house in your absence to steal something. That bad enough... but its totally something else for that same criminal to go to a court and sue you to change your door locks, because he feels its too much work breaking in.... you enable enough people to knowingly and deliberately commit crimes and at some point you are liable to face criminal charges as an accomplice or accessory.

Michaela G. · Answer

Bad news sells. Nobody wants to read an article about a family renting a house on airbnb and are having a swell vacation. With that said, I was an airbnb host for all of 2 weeks, until yesterday and I've had my share of entitled guests in that time, that it soured it for me completely. People that have been evicted and need a place to stay can find listings that are cheaper than hotels and new hosts that are eager to please to get good ratings. No eviction or criminal check. You don't have the full name until you have accepted a booking and then you can't cancel without getting penalized. It also attracts people that are trying to get whatever they can.....as in...paying for their stay, then complaining to airbnb and getting all of their money back. Basically, now that airbnb is so known by everyone, there are many people that will utilize it for their purposes. These past 2 weeks have been extremely stressful and I'm relieved to be out.

Ken Dillard · Answer

Agree with most everything said. I feel it is mostly businesses trying to protect their interests and emotion. I wonder if anyone has info on how it is viewed in a more traditional vacation area versus non or large city versus small. New York versus New Jersey or Dallas versus Austin?

James Carlson · Answer

@Ken Dillard I'm just echoing what most people have said. I think it's mostly overblown. (Though, as a former journalist for 10 years, I do tire of the "media has an agenda" trope. If they didn't report on these incidents, they'd be accused of whitewashing the dark side of a "liberal San Francisco company.") Okay, sorry, I'm off my soapbox. Airbnb hosts more than 500,000 stays every night around the world. Statistically, a handful of those are bound to be bad apples. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Luka Milicevic · Answer

@Ken Dillard I read that story the other day, someone shared it on Facebook.The media obviously has their own agenda and they will slant stories however they need to in order to fit their agenda.Nashville officially became the number 1 bachelorette destination in the country. Lots of bachelor parties come down here as well. The hotel industry lobbied very hard for Airbnb to be shut down and their dollars were very well spent.I think largely the problem became that more and more people started using Airbnb as a standard vs before in the 90s STRs were more of an alternative. That's why i think that it has received so much heat in recent times.This week I actually listened to the story of the founding of Airbnb on the podcast "how I built this". It was very interesting! The founder of Airbnb was asked about all of the resistance his company is getting. He mentioned 3 things that received heavy resistance when they were first introduced but are now so common place that we can't imagine life without it.Banks ATMs, cars, and I can't remember the 3rd one :-(Cars are so common place now, can anyone believe they were ever met with resistance when they first came out???Recently Uber and Lyft took on the Taxi industry as a LESS expensive mode of transport. What did Taxis do? Try and shut them down! Someone came up with a better idea and instead of adapting industries are trying to lobby govt to shut down their competition. What kind of a free market is that?I very much understand the concerns of some neighbors who have had wild bachelor parties next door every weekend but I think that is such a SMALL portion of the total Airbnb visits. (At least that's what the facts say). I can't believe that the solution metro came up with was to shut down ALL STRs as a result of a very small portion of Airbnbs being run as "party houses". Either way, I think home sharing will someday be the standard for people travelling. My wife and I are only looking at Airbnbs now when we travel. I don't even bother with hotels. Maybe we will look back someday in disbelief that Airbnb was met with so much resistance.

Kevin Lefeuvre · Answer

Media hype generated by Hotel lobbies.

Carrie Carlton · Answer

In Nashville there is a lot of noise about party houses. We have become a huge destination for Bachelorette parties.

Ken Dillard · Answer

You are very correct about tuning out the TV. Very little of the drama and news has anything to do with the life we have to go make for ourselves!