airbnb is the new concentration of wealth. the vast majority are second or third homes. they destroy neighborhoods, and remove any potential affordable housing.
48
don't forget couchsurfing and warm showers / these services tend towards the young poor adventurous travelers but aren't those the ones who end up bringing change ??
8
Sorry, I'm confused. What does all this have to do with NATO?
> We look to Facebook for identity.
If I had any idea what that was supposed to mean, I think I'd disagree.
35
Airbnb is a leveler that steamrolls local ordinances and pits neighbor against neighbor. How about Ryan Air and Easy Jet? All the young Europeans grabbing 100 Euro flights for weekends in nearby countries and meeting on equal terms with English as a shared language.
22
Don't forget that the "networking undercurrent" has been a reality
for scientists for a century or more. The lists of authors and
institutions on their papers attests to that. I suspect that
you journalists have had your own networking undercurrent for just
about as long. You just haven't written about it yet.
8
During the past 40 years, many small, especially “market” towns in the US were hurt, often to the point of oblivion, by shopping centers (and other consolidators, like chain restaurants and “category-killer” stores). A new center, at the edge of town, would attract every viable merchant out of a downtown to its AC’ed, homeless-proof interiors, to make some distant landlord-owner rich but at the same time sapping the real estate taxes that — uniquely in the US — pay for education, police and fire departments, leading to a divergent vicious cycle. Think of Bridgeport, CT and the nearby Trumbull Center.
Amazon, Uber, AirBnB, etc., are now the consolidators of those consolidators. Online trade has already made 80% of malls redundant.
Past consolidation probably hurt the middle class more than offshoring and predatory lending added together. So let us be a bit cautious lauding these new interlopers, who create new billionnaires but also new armies of minimum wage earners.
30
This is a thoughtful piece. Thanks, Roger
5
AirBnB is mostly americans or people from foreign countries with american experiences. I like to hear Mr. Cohen's american elitist starting point.....he just happened to be chatting with the president of a Billion dollar corporation the other day about how egalitarian his company is..... AirBnB is a wonderful idea...but lets not become evangelical about it. Its a money making enterprise that promotes a very american ideal.....only limited regulation and very little taxation.....and the guys at the top only take a small skim off the top....to put in offshore bank accounts that also avoid taxation.
30
Customer and host ratings eliminate the free rider problem that wrecks everything
3
Normally I enjoy reading Mr. Cohen's columns, but this one left me scratching my head. I understand he is trying to make a point about people coming together to foster understanding and remind us of the commonality of life. But to use Airbnb as his demonstration vehicle seems very tone-deaf to me. I wonder if Mr. Cohen took the time to put "Airbnb horror stories" into his search engine and peruse the results?
So I have a challenge to Mr. Cohen, research the downside of Airbnb and write a follow up column showing how Airbnb also perpetuates all of "yesterday's problems" that still plague our society; such as greed, discrimination and fraudulent behavior.
42
Freedom is my nation. Free men exchanging freely with one another with mutual respect for each other’s differences without coercion or unsolicited judgement are its citizens. The nosy busybodies and know-betters trying to interfere with that exchange or with the autonomy of our free minds are our nations enemies. Ordinary citizens who ignore petty bureaucrats and officials and exercise their rights to mind their own business are our soldiers.
“A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding.” Eric Hoffer
Yes, because NATO was formed with the express intent of evading local taxes and operating grey market businesses.
27
Does the "undercurrent" have an army?
Or control the political system?
Thought not.
3
...thought to mention "Home Exchange.com". My wife and I have been subscribers for 8 years. We have just negotiated an exchange of our apartment in Buenos Aires for an apartment in Paris. Other exchanges have included Costa Rica, Antigua, New York, Paris, Montreux Switzerland, Amsterdam, Bali, San Fransisco. We leave all our belongings in place when we leave our apartment and usually find the same in the apartment we have exchanged for.
3
Can we please get past the idea that Airbnb and the like are based on "sharing"? They're providers of for-fee services.
40
Nobody normally has anything against interacting with all kinds of other folks. But people are normally against throngs of strangers invading their homes.
8
People are nice all over the world. I figured that out on my travels long time before Airbnb was invented. People are staying in other peoples homes for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Airbnb just invented to charge a fortune for this and avoid taxes and regulations where it can.
12
Here on Cape Cod, AB&B had 553 rentals listed in 2014. In 2017 there were 4,573. This is a problem for those who live here or anywhere desirable to vacation. These numbers do not include the multiple other online rental companies like VRBO, HomeAway, realty agents, etc. This platform may be great for travellers but awful for renters or lower income people who can't afford to buy a house. It has created homelessness and great despair for untold thousands. There is a seriously bad downside as well. One can hardly find a year round rental anymore here on Cape Cod. Teachers,nurses, town workers, fire/police/emts, lifeguards and others can't even find places to live anymore.
21
Air BnB is a system based on ignoring accepted law. In many areas the major "landlords" are corporations who buy houses and condos and flip them into short term rentals. In my neighborhood, there is one block that is all Air BnB houses. No commercial zoning, no permits really because it is so hard to enforce. They are turning neighborhoods into hotels. Homeowners are aghast, the visitors are noisy, careless, and clueless. The faux landlords outbid locals for real estate, giving us little hope of having proper neighbors. My next door neighbors were evicted when an owner bought the house and turned it into an Air BnB. Now tourists stay there and think I should be thrilled to be their local color. Air BnB is destroying New Orleans and many other areas.
31
“The greatest danger in turbulent times is not the turbulence, but to act with yesterday’s logic.” If that’s the same as saying that you can never go home again and life is nothing more than a one way street, not having a memory is a good thing then. Little comfort I’m sure to all those with Alzheimer’s, sadly.
I must admit be being mystified how an accomodation-sharing business is similar to a mutual defence [game theory] pact where an attack against one member country is seen as an attack against all member countries.
19
Mr Cohen
You need to learn a little about zoning laws. Maybe a lot.
I bought into a residentially zoned neighborhood only to soon be surrounded by homes operating as motels for profit. Individuals and corporations snapping up residences to rent
Weekend after weekend, noise, parties, cars all over . A real Airbnb mess.
Resident owners often have to leave on weekends .....and get to work on weekdays after suffering noisy invasions. The local feckless government fathers are so enamored with the newfound tax revenue they do nothing to help us residents.
Mr. Cohen please have some of those sweet people you write about come to this neighborhood, buy a house and move in as residents.
And please educate yourself about local zoning laws and why they exist.
51
There is a truism: no government is as good as its people.
5
Have you bothered to speak to people at all? To the legislators trying to prevent college parties in residential areas? To apartment dwellers faced with their building becoming a temporary boarding house? People are going to court to try and preserve the peace and sanity and value of their most important asset, their home. One of our neighbors, after fatuously assuring everybody that their home, being extensively remodelled to house 14, waltzed off and left us with clients who shine lights in the back yard, blast music, and clog the streets with cars. I felt sorry for the bride who ended up talking to the police after noise complaints were called in at midnight; I later heard that she regaled her guests with "this party is a success! I had to speak to the police!" They cheered. An example of the global peaceloving elite you envision? So forget the fuzzy image of grandma taking in a college student; this is a destroyer of people's peace and prosperity.
29
AirBnB hasn't done this. People getting along has always been the case. Even when you travel to parts of the world extremely dangerous, the people are generally kind and helpful. The instances of horror are minor, and are often blown up out of all proportion in the media in order to sell newspapers. Plus, we see plenty of our own horror at home, so traveling is probably safer! Anyone who's traveled on a student's dime would already know this. People on an individual level are fine the world over. It's governments and religion that mess it up. With AirBnB you're not staying long enough to really get to know anyone anyway. And if you'd stayed at any of our last three, you wouldn't stay at all, and probably not ever again. What with all the tag-on fees it's now cheaper to do it the old-fashioned way.
Plus your analogy of AirBnB being NATO is completely wrong. If anything, it's the UN -- just as traveling to foreign countries always has been. So nothing new here except an AirBnB plug.
15
Cohen certainly could have mentioned the fact that AirBnB is, like many fast-growing startups, imperfect. We New Orleanians are painfully aware of the inequality perpetuated by hosts who make a ridiculous income off making housing unavailable for our city's own residents. That is awful and remains to be fixed, hopefully sometime soon.
However this isn't a holistic critique of the company: it is a an acknowledgment of an unexpected good it has brought in connecting people of other cultures. How it has served to remind us that the government officials & representatives of other countries do *not* represent the people of those countries.
I'm particularly reminded of my night in a small AirBnB room outside of Strasbourg where my Ukrainian immigrant host and her son shared stories with me, including our shared distaste for Trump. We felt united over our realization that we did not solely represent "a small subset of all people who make up our societies."
7
As industrialization consumes what's left of the world's resources humans will turn to autocrats and militarists who promise their adherents the resources of others.
Sorry, good feelings and trust don't have a chance.
1
re 'They scoffed at the notion that people would trust one another enough to allow strangers into their homes'....
We have done 113 house exchanges in the past 25 years. No 'rent involved'....yes, we allow 'strangers' into our home. You get to know the exchangers only through emails, home photos, phone calls if necessary. They are in your home for days/weeks/month; you are in theirs.
Yet, nothing ever stolen. Our home always left in good condition as we do with their home.
Have made many good friends with these folks over the years. Has given us a different take on humanity.
P.S. However, haven't traded with Donald yet.
14
Read “Ten Arguments for deleting your Social Media Accounts Right Now,” or something like that. Air BNB brings people face to face and has concrete results unlike snarky social media that’s all about posing. That’s why it’s successful and why the human instinct to get along still works when people are face to face.
13
I do not see airbnb the way you do. I managed an airbnb property for a few years and increasingly airbnb is not about sharing a room in your home where there would be the possibility of some cultural exchange. It is about being a little mini-motel with owners getting more points the more they transform their space into a generic hotel space. Airbnb has all kinds of "suggestions" about type of shampoo, conditioner you should leave your guests. IMHO airbnb has transformed into just another faceless big business.
19
This is solid, important thinking -- as an introduction into observing the bigger reality of our world's stage. We (the people) are not inherently fascist or ugly. Certain opportunists-cum-populist however periodically arise and use a very bogus form of nationalism to re-orient unsuspecting citizens into disruptive thinking.
The cerebral mechanism that populists use is cynicism. It's an incredibly cheap, easy way to catch people unaware and re-direct their interests. Cynicism can be persuasive; it's cheap and easy to condemn anything, and push people into simplistic 'solutions'. Pushed to the max, it becomes very disturbing.
The example Cohen uses here to demonstrate that today's proto-fascism is bogus is to be commended in rich gratitude.
5
I consider Airbnb to be the destroyer of neighborhoods and the epitomy of greed gone unregulated. They don't do due dilligence ensuring the advertiser has legal standing to rent ; they promote temporary lodgings at the expense of permanent housing in traditional residential neighborhoods raising rents to unaffordable levels; My upstairs neighbor in Barcelona rented her 35 sq.ft. apt. to a Russian fellow with Argentinian passport for a two year term-- the standard lease did not permit sub-letting. Quite by accident she found out her tenant was subletting the place for weekends (at the cost of a month's rent) through Airbnb. She contacted Airbnb but they blew her off, all they cared about was their commission. The tenant was nowhere to be found but tourists kept coming in droves to her property . Solution: she rented her own apartment through Airbnb, and once inside she changed the locks and called the press. Hundreds of homeowners came forward who had similarly been scammed. End result: Barcelona City Hall levied a 600,000 Euros fine to Airbnb, and part of the settlement was the removal of 2,000 ILLEGALLY RENTED apartments from Airbnb's site. Oh, I almost forgot: the head honcho of Airbnb in Barcelona was in on the scam and rented several of his properties this way. I sold my Barcelona apartment yesterday to a local long time resident of the Barceloneta neighborhood. Unfortunately we are having the same problem in the San Diego area. Beware!
31
While Cohen’s core thesis (as well as this clickbait headline) is preposterous, I will admit to also once wondering if the surprising success of Airbnb in the U.S. was indicative of a trend toward greater interpersonal trust between strangers.
A far more interesting tack might be to realize that, unlike Facebook, Airbnb’s relationships, between hosts, platform and guests frequently turn “virtual” relationships into 3-D encounters. And that’s precisely where the rubber of cyberspace meets the tarmac of reality.
Having now acquired direct knowledge of two hosts’ experiences over several years and personally utilizing five vastly different Airbnb sites in four states, I can definitively say, “sort of”. However nice it was to enjoy that innocent idea, I believe the bulk of Airbnb’s success is more strongly indicative of an economically struggling and rapidly ageing middle class (hosts) and bargain-hunting but still aspirational business and pleasure travelers. Four of my hosts clearly fit this demographic; one was an investor/nonresident in South Beach. Three of my hosts were middle-aged women who would not be utilizing their properties as sites except for economic necessity. One was a middle-aged man, and the other an entrepreneur/investor utilizing a management company to run multiple units.
Bottom line - many shades of grey. Like the internet itself, the guest experience using the Airbnb bus model relies highly on what perspective/smarts users bring. Caveat emptor!
9
It is true that we as individuals are well-adapted to seek advantage -- unearned rental income or a below-market hotel room, as they case may be --and are unlikely to do anything to disrupt the prospect of continued advantage. Besides, there's so little to gain and so much at risk.
Why don't we look instead at the evil done by Airbnb and all the other billion dollar valuations, where the gains are enormous and you stay out of jail by bribing the authorities?
18
Boston's airbnb are 60% investor owned with 220 added per month as of a June 2018 article in the Boston Globe. This does not take into account adjacent cities on commuter train lines. A friend just sold his condo to such an investor at way over asking in an decidedly not glamorous (sketchy and garage floods) near town. Love the idea but locals who live in the towns do bear a cost.
https://bostonagentmagazine.com/2018/06/05/investor-units-targeted-bosto...
20
I value privacy.
I will not even stay in the homes relatives and friends when I travel.
I want a regular hotel room where I do not have to interact on a personal basis with anyone.
Airbib is not for me.
17
We may be in a honeymoon phase of the "trust economy". Not that I recommend being distrustful, but it is too early to call these things a glowing success. There are more direct and meaningful ways to contribute to social justice and personal connections.
3
Maybe politics has become entertainment plus, the invisible plus being some sort of mythologized group therapy. A Trump rally is where we can go to ritually exorcise our common demons in an insulated and relatively inconsequential public environment, leaving us relatively free of their influence in our daily interactions.
Politics as entertainment gives us a simultaneous increase in emotional theatrics and a loss of seriousness. We can endure the apparent emotional excess because we intuitively understand that it is mere playacting. His opponents can thus regard Donald Trump with some detachment as both horrifyingly disastrous and absurdly comical.
The folks on Main Street are of course seeing something else. They are oblivious to the comedy and perceive any disasters as apocalyptic justice. This worldview is likely to remain stable so long as there are no adverse consequences in their immediate economic sphere. In this context Trump's risky behavior is the potential fallout from his mindless tariff wars, with the Chinese smartly targeting US agricultural exports.
Airbnb works well on Main Street because it draws new customers into the small town orbit and operates beyond the boundaries of government regulation. In their current state of alienation rural folk are now more trusting of private tribal institutions than broad public ones. Suburbanites have long submitted to harsh homeowners association rules that would foment open rebellion if imposed by local government.
3
Airbnb is still a "buyer beware" product - and I speak from experience. I've used Airbnb over 20 times...fine domestically US yet not a solid option for international travel. Used twice in Europe and was "ripped off" on both occasions. Misleading photographs and property descriptions on both occasions.Non-responsive owners. Imagine showing up to a dirty apartment that was listed as pristine with great location. Truth was it was filthy and surrounded by 24 hr construction. Absolutely no support from Corporate AirBnb when I complained. One property actually removed their listing so I couldn't list my complaint.... only to re-list it two weeks later under a different owner. Be careful, gang, use a reputable in-country realtor with a proven track record. AirBnb is hit or miss -- at best. Don't risk a precious vacation on the uncertainty of your AirBnb Experience. We've written AirBnb off for future travel.
17
Perhaps the relative success and prosperity of those who offer rooms to rent on air B&B and those who rent them has a great deal to do with the global courtesy and decency that allows these programs to succeed.
This is not new. Car rental agencies are able to make their businesses work because of the basic decency of most of those who rent cars.
In both cases, there is certain and swift punishment to those who violate the norms. Offenders cannot use the service again, and will be subject to at least some financial penalty.
However, leaders of government, and the super-rich, are not exposed to the punishment of violators in the "sharing" economy. Unfortunately, their actions can destroy the lives and livelihoods of vast numbers of the "good people".
3
I live in NH and travel to Montreal often. I always use AIRB&B. I love the Montreal on it's own merits, but also NEED to escape Trumpism regularly. I'm a musician and Montreal is a different world even compared to Boston. I walk streets surrounded by creativity, the people I see have health insurance and aren't armed and foaming at the mouth. AIRB&B is the icing on the cake because I get to experience the city's communities like the locals do.
9
Perhaps AirNb, Uber and the like have similarities. They are both clever concepts that, working within national and local laws, would work quite well. However, in the headlong pursuit of profit, they forged ahead regardless. So society has benefited but has also suffered.
7
We went to Venice this year for the first time and found it a ghost town full of tourists with no actual residents. Everywhere you walked people were carrying cameras and speaking English or German. We hired an Italian guide, a lifelong resident, and he said not one single neighbor in his neighborhood remains. They have all moved to new-build suburban houses On the mainland and are renting out their homes on airbnb.
Venice was beautiful, but felt souless.
To compare we also spent some time in Lucca, where part of the enjoyment was all the city residents out taking an evening stroll in the town center of a living breathing city.
I imagine there are many places that are overfull of tourists, and that this was true before aribnb, but I think rather than “bringing the world together” it has succeeded only in taking actual real neighborhoods in popular destinations and hollowing them out.
31
I work with international clients in the US. At first we experienced the "Trump Slump, " but now almost everyone, from African, Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Central American, South American, to European clients, understands that Trump doesn't reflect how most US people feel. How they know that is through Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb, and Uber and Lyft once they get here. One point to note is that most of these people are younger than 40 and well-educated. As with Brexit, the majority of solid tRump voters are over 40 and not well-educated.
8
Person-to-person is always best, whether it's through AirBNB, American Field Service, programs bringing together youth from states in conflict, or chance travel encounters. But policy is made by those who manage to take control, and policy often works against the interests of the people.
2
Mr. Cohen, you're a good man and all, but a couple of points, one of which I see already made.
First, you're starting to sound a little Friedmanesque here. If you want to maintain credibility, I humbly suggest you don't go down that path.
Second, the decline of the nation state already has cobwebs on it as an ancient prophecy yet to come to pass. If there's a line on this in Vegas, I'd advise anyone not to bet against the nation state.
9
This analysis strikes me as very "pollyannaish" - similar to Tom Friedman's writings during the "Arab Spring", when he was all enthused about the prospect of Social Media allowing people to rise up against autocratic states, as in Egypt.
While it is true that a number of individual home owners have made good use of AirBnB to bolster their incomes, it has become a huge money-maker for - wait for it - the moneyed classes, who buy up apartments and homes for the large profit potential of short-term rentals, contributing hugely to the shortage of affordable housing in urban areas.
We own a condominium in a downtown metropolitan area. We are fortunate that our governing documents allow us to implement strong prohibitions against short term rentals. Even then we have many absentee pawners trying to flaunt the rules. Many other condo buildings have lost complete control and have essentially become unregulated high-cost flop houses, where the daily in-and-out of "guests" are completely disruption the character of a residential community.
Yes, at the individual level, one can still find basic decency and respect. But at the same time it has become so easy, using social media in the age of Trump, to spread disinformation, hate and violence, which can lead entire societies to go down a dark and dangerous rabbit hole.
Let's not forget that the origins of Facebook is a Zuckerberg website at Harvard to allow male students to make nasty comments about side-by-side pictures of women.
32
Airbnb as "the New NATO"?
In what way?
NATO was not founded because people were becoming more "understanding and accepting of each other", but instead for self-defense.
23
I have to disagree with Roger's premise here, like many of the comments above: similar to social media, we're learning that instead of broadening our connections, information received, experiences, etc. these apps instead help reinforce our de-fault filters or circles of contacts.
6
We rent a room in our home on Airbnb. In general, our experience is in line with what Roger describes. We live in a small town where we would not meet many people from outside if it were not for Airbnb, and that is a large part of why we do it.
I would like to note, however, that based on our conversations with guests over breakfast, I would say that less than 5% of our guests are conservative republicans (we have a large sample size of around 300 guests over the past several years). We live in a very conservative area, so you might otherwise expect more conservatives to stay here, in comparison to a big city for instance. Thus we conclude that Airbnb users tend to be overwhelmingly liberal. This corresponds to what you would expect from the business model of Airbnb, that it is based on trust. Studies have shown that liberals tend to start with the assumption that people are basically good, whereas conservatives tend to assume the opposite. Thus I don't know how much you can conclude about people in general just because Airbnb has been successful among liberals.
27
Roger, I like the way you're thinking. In order to have hope, in order to challenge the dominant, dark narratives circulating in our cultures right now, we need to define our own storylines, talk about what we're seeing that involves trust, curiosity, and kindness. Recognize that what gets amplified on the internet, or by political parties, isn't always the real story.
We have been hosting our own international couch surfing, or Airbnb without money exchanged if you will, ever since our sons were part of an international high school system called "United World College." UWC was founded by Kurt Hahn (who also founded Outward Bound) during the cold war. At that time, he felt the future of humankind depended on bringing young people from all cultures together to work for "peace and a more sustainable future." Over 50 years later, the movement is going strong on 15 campuses around the world and it is needed more than ever. For us, as with many UWC parents, it has resulted in the most wonderful offshoot: we've hosted over 50 students in our home over the years, mostly for short stays, but some for up to six weeks. For us, it has been a gift, a way to share our home and enjoy the company of young people from all over the world. It rejuvenates our thinking and cheers us. Our own sons have been shown similar hospitality all over the world.
These stories are as valid and worth paying attention to as those of xenophobia and fear. They are about trust and generosity and give us hope.
15
An epic flood devastated the road leading to the far north shore of Kauai this past April, forcing the mayor to place a moratorium on short-term rentals and allowing only residents and authorized workers to enter the area. And what remains is an eerie ghost-town of empty houses and cottages interspersed with the few remaining residents. We’ve all been aware of the increasing numbers of visitors to our neighborhood over the past few years, but suddenly removing them all has illuminated in clear relief just how extensive the transformation has been. AirBnB and its ilk have unquestionably done much more to destroy our once close-knit and vibrant community than any force of nature.
38
People that rent an apartment on Airbnb are not coming to that country to settle there and become part of the population. They are not a threat to the ethnic makeup of the country. This in addition to the fact that they are a single family, at most. This as opposed to masses of people of a completely different type of culture changing the demographics of the country. Cohen could just as well had made the same observation about how people from all over the world stay in hotels in a country like Hungary and Mr. Orban has no problem with them. He could have also made the observation that people of all different nationalities share neighboring rooms in hotels and get along. However this has nothing to do with the matter of whether a country should invite people from all over the world to become permanent residents of that country.
10
As an Airbnb host and user, and a Uber user, I think it is clear: the key reason that Airbnb and Uber are successful, the reason that people act in trustworthy ways, is FEEDBACK! Every one, renter and landlord alike, know that the other person, immediately after the rental, gives a feedback that is posted to their Airbnb or Uber personal account, and is seen by all future Airbnb or Uber users or hosts on the other side of the interchange. The feedback cannot be changed (through it can be replied to) and follows their real identity forever through time.
I know that I, as a host, am very dependent on my guests' feedback, it is the one of the things anyone looks at before they make that final decision to stay at my place. And I do check reviews from any prospective guests' accounts if I have any question about their suitability to my place.
All this being said, I have mostly good things to report from my experience as a host and a guest of these services. The only down side is the occasional overly critical guest who expects to pay $25 a night and get Hilton services.
13
Airbnb, Facebook and other networks allow you to personally select your fellow members. Humans created the nation state 400 years ago as a network entity large and prosperous enough that can defend and protect its members yet not include every Tom, Dick and Harry into the network. Europe, per some of its members, did not do an adequate job at vetting membership. Some comments here about Airbnb indicate the same issues exist in that network. Airbnb, nation state and multi state all have the same structure and issues. Nothing new here.
7
Obviously most people responding to this article do not live in areas that tourists like to visit. We had a close net community not invaded by airbnb until the last 3 years. Try living in a community that has a lot of airbus houses with a daily turnaround of tourists, a large majority of them noisy, partying daily until late into the night and are in general disrespectful of the people who live there. Corporations have bought up houses in the community and renting out the rooms to just to airbnb folks since the profit margin is so high. This cuts down on long term rentals much needed for people working in the area. A lot of the owners do not pay the same taxes as legitimate hotels nor keep up their property. Think how you would like to have this where you live. Doesn't sound too good does it? We have more than enough hotels in our area but it is just greed of some home owners that create this situation. Just can't resist making a few more bucks and not caring about the effect on other others. Typical of our times. Our community is trying to put a stop to this but is hard to fight against the big bucks. Nothing against visitors from abroad but we like peace and quiet too. We too have rights. Stay at in an area zoned for commercial use. This article about the "feel good" of sharing experiences doesn't talk much about the problems it causes for others. What does airbnb really have to do with promoting international relationships in the long run?
42
We still need a state apparatus. This is always a matter of power and therefore something to be distrusted as a necessary evil. But the people must control their governments, and if the people in fact do control their governments and in fact do have a broader understanding of the world and other peoples, that is a realistic advance. (It might even be possible to think of other people’s trying to influence our electoral process as a kind of broadening. That would be a new NATO indeed.)
2
Nothing in the world would work if most people weren't honest most of the time. There would be no society, no culture, nothing solid. Thankfully, most of the time things mostly work.
In an era when selfishness is lauded, self-aggrandizement is almost a religion and fear is the name of the game, it is heartening to know that average citizens can share their dwellings with other average citizens. All the AirBnB places we have stayed have been wonderful. The hosts as well. In places where sharing is prohibited, it is due to the fear that "unknowns" will do something bad. No trust there. Litigation lurks.
Those who think that AirBnB is pushing out affordable apartments, are buying the propaganda of the hotel industry. The ads want you to believe that these apartments are being used for enormous personal gain. Mostly, that's not true. The hotel industry is powerful and very threatened. They lie, like many other groups these days. Remember, in NYC, there are almost no "affordable" apartments. Hotels just want you to think that this situation has something to do with AirBnB. It doesn't. Affordable apartments in NYC have always been exceedingly rare and that was true long before AirBnB existed. The use of an apartment for less than the cost of a hotel room has made it successful. The hotel industry benefits if AirBnB fails. Ditto the taxi industry and Uber or Via. Don't be fooled.
10
@Jeanie LoVetri
So how many people in your apartment house rent out their apartments as airbnb? I guess not too many. The profit is higher than you think. How would you know? Ever do the math? AirBnb in our area is full time year round. House owners are living someplace else enjoying the profit. Not afraid of the unknown, have probably done more traveling than most people and was a peace corps volunteer. Just want peace and quiet when I am home. Don't you?
17
First there is economic prosperity and individualism, then, more is sold to individual consumers till all avenues are exhausted. Next new connectivities are established through Facebook and airbnb and new business models emerge. Gone are family, relatives and relationships in this social experiment.
5
While the insanity of our age rages, it is essential to be reminded that people like to trust other people, and that the great majority of humans get along in their work, in their families and in their own and other's communities.
10
What is the really kind plan AirBnB has for all the people who can no longer afford apartment rent because the landlord can make more money renting by the night to an endless string of strangers?
What is the really kind plan Air BnB has for neighborhoods that are hollowed out because every landlord rents nightly to a different set of strangers?
25
@Frank
Generally speaking it is not landlords who rent out apartments via airbnb. It is usually condo owners or apartment dwellers who do this to supplement their incomes and rarely can you rent a room for one night. Most hosts have minimum stays. I have tried airbnb as a less expensive way to travel and also get great advice from the hosts, who are always local and check in with their guests.
In addition, these hosts invariably leave breakfast items and wine and cheese, unlike hotels.
And because the hosts are local I get the benefit of their recommendations and truly have a much better travel experience. Even the hosts neighbors are welcoming.
I believe that it is the Hotel Industry who are spreading these rumors, as it is impacting their business. But that is the capitalistic way.
The vetting system by hosts and guests alike works pretty well.
I am sure there are exceptions in every case. But this has been my experience.
5
Mixed messages are ordinary, everyday, normative complexity.
We are contradictions.
Each of us has been socialized, and I don't mean politically, but as I think about my claim, the meanings are of course relatable.
The America and Hungry-Austria firstors are seemingly debunkers of my theme, but why allow truth to confound this issue?
I feel as confused as any ethnocentric cosmopolitan.
How else would our complicated nation elect opposites for our leaders!
Reality is explainable, surely?
No philosopher nor average person completely agrees.
Is DJT a genius goofball?
This analysis may be well and good for Airbnb users, but haw can you extrapolate that data to a whole country or the world?
Those with the desire, and means, (passports/credit cards) to travel internationally make up a really small percentage of any country's, or the world's population.
Quora estimates that less than 1% of the world's population travels internationally, other than by walking, with a majority of them day-labors and refugees fleeing oppression. (Not likely to be in Airbnb's user base)
So looking for any "trend" among Airbnb users is looking at a minuscule sample, of well-funded, highly-educated, young and older people seeking new-experiences, which is the 1% of the 1%, NOT really representative of an individual country's population, or especially world-wide general population trait.
22
@Bloomdog
Trust me it is not the 1% who travel this way. The 1% have private planes and houses all over the world. It is ordinary folks who travel this way.
1
Two years ago, I told my upstairs neighbors that I had totally had it with their stream of total Airbnb strangers disrupting my ceiling at 2 a.m., singing pop songs out the bedroom window, or sitting and smoking right in front of the outside front door. We live in a three-family house. Our landlords, quiet immigrants who like all their tenants (including my neighbors), live on the top floor. They know nothing about Airbnb. I do, and so does a friend of mine in Brooklyn who had similar experiences in her apartment building. We both stopped the madness in its tracks. Nonetheless, another kind of madness persists: articles in reputable newspapers comparing Airbnb to transatlantic alliances, the UN, or international high school student exchanges.
64
Used Airbnb in St.Petersburg, Paris, Costa Rica, New York and throughout USA; never had a bad experience ( used Vrbo before ); just read the reviews, communicate with the host if sth. is not clear, look at the map to be sure about the location and you will enjoy. Invariably the hosts were more than kind and forthcoming and being at the house or the apartment is so much better than any hotel. All my hosts were displaying the local licenses so I doubt this was done without permission.
2
It’s great to have good individual interpersonal relationships, but this says little about the state of the world or politics. Many tyrants are nice to their family and friends while imposing atrocities on many.
19
Airbnb was the key not only to helping my husband and I take our dream round-the-world trip, but also to introducing us to artists, writers, and caring people we otherwise wouldn't have met. That's why I wholeheartedly recommend Airbnb in my book, "The Active Seniors Guide to Budget World Travel," so others can have that experience too.
7
While Mr. Cohen offers an arguably unique case to the benefits of Airbnb, he need only puruse the numerous comments on social media detailing frustating, negative and costly experiences on the part of both hosts and guests that go largely unresolved by the poor customer service team currently in place. I speak from personal experience as well. This is a system set up in no small part to generate profit with minimal effort to protect those who have encountered problems. Like many such corporations, when they’re good, they’re very good -when they’re bad, they’re awful. Put some profits into process improvement then talk about international good will.
21
It is very interesting that this sharing with guests is working out so well across so many cultures.
Different cultures do have different traditions regarding guests. For example, in some Arab culture the status of guest is very formalized and specific in ways we don't think in the US. It is more than detail, but it seems that there is a constant across the variations, of making guests welcome and behaving well as a guest. It speaks well of humanity that all of our cultures manage something along similar lines of welcome and good behavior.
It would be interesting to learn more of the details of just how this is done cross-culture.
5
Don't forget that among scientists, the "networking undercurrent" has been a reality for a century or more. The lists of authors and institutions on their papers attest to that. I have come to suspect that journalists have had their own networking undercurrent for about as long. They just haven't written about it yet.
1
perhaps the scientists are their own nation, irrespective of countries' borders, and so are musicians, and so are members of some religious sects, and so are bird watchers, and so, too, are any members of transnational groups - people with something in common.
these groups are largely made up of people who made choices and developed interests, whereas the country of your birth, like your parents, is strictly chance and beyond individual choice.
we all need to focus on what we have in common rather than obsessing about what separates us and makes us different from the other.
and everybody eats.
9
Air B&B also has the passports of everyone who uses their system. It is simply unbelievable that people are so willing to give up that valuable information to stay in someone's home.
I find it ludicrous. I'd rather stay in a well-run, clean, regulated "inn" with amenities and free breakfast than spend as much or more money to rent some stranger's home.
Air B&B simply breaks all the rules while they rake in the dough by charging a percentage of "rental" income but evading taxes. Home owners break the rules. It is community destroying.
Nothing wonderful about them or any of these other "platforms" run by greedy libertarians who want it all for themselves - with no rules- like a bunch of spoiled kids. Apple is the poster child of today's unregulated greed.
43
@njglea Hi, I'd like to argue the opposite- I am a frequent user of Airbnb and I find the experiences add to my travels. Each rental home allows me to interact with local citizens in ways that traditional hotels and inns do not. Sure, to some extent, Airbnb has found loopholes or "broken rules" and they ARE for profit, but they also provide a service where there is a demand.
Clearly, 300 million people around the world also value the service they offer, especially when, as you pointed out- the costs is comparable to traditional hotels. No system is perfect, especially one that is new and to accuse these corporation of being greedy libertarians is a little too harsh. Every new system has to challenge the status quo at some time.
8
One of my daughters feels the same way, Swing, and when we traveled together recently with other family members she rented a house on Air B&B for the first night.
There were two bathrooms for nine of us - one of them had no water. The place felt old and dirty. It cost as much as a good hotel/motel per person.
The second night we stayed at a motel with a swimming pool, free breakfast, 24/7 coffee, clean rooms and a staff that wanted to make sure we enjoyed our stay.
To each his own. I prefer being appreciated for my money.
1
I enjoyed reading this interesting argument. Can ou provide the source for:
original source of: "The greatest danger in turbulent times is not the turbulence but to act with yesterday's logic"
2
@alan.morris
Managing in Turbulent Times by Peter Drucker (1980)
ps - it isn't really very good and time has not treated it well - early Drucker is better Drucker.
2
While I agree with the comments of many that Airbnb et al. are essentially an unhealthy shadow economy, I think there's one element inherent in Mr. Cohen's argument that is correct: A significant tie across national and cultural borders is the economy.
America First/Italians First, etc. ultimately will not be able to withstand global economic forces.
Doing business will go on across all lines, and not just in the shadow economy. If war can be avoided, eventually some semblance of sanity will prevail. Those with economic power will figure that much out.
Less certain are justice, equality, compassion, and respect for human life and dignity.
15
Cohen says some good things about the value of people-to-people contacts, but his comparison of Airbnb to NATO is incoherent and undercuts his whole point. NATO was from the start nothing but an anti-Soviet MILITARY alliance (ask Trump) among "Western" nations and remains so today (ask Putin).
28
I used airbnb because it did the vetting for me. I always insisted on three forms of ID on file, and I knew I'd get paid, so I didn't have to do any collecting.
I knew that airbnb could find these people if they harmed me or my house.
So even though my guests were strangers, I was reasonably sure I could trust the situation.
It wasn't all altruism :)
18
@Ann Weninger You ran a money-making venture out of your home after being persuaded you wouldn't be hurt in any way. I daresay *none* of that was altruistic.
6
One important thing I learned about AirBnB came after my first horrible experience (which, fortunately, came after a half-dozen of good to very good experiences), which is that if you write a slamming review of a place (the place where I stayed that prompted me to do this did not have fresh sheets on the bed, had cockroaches in the cupboards, and had a bathtub that had never been scrubbed—clearly there had been no home visit to check for viability), I did not hear back about this from AirBnB. I found out many months later that when you have a bad experience, a bad review does nothing (except warn others so that they don’t have to go through what you went through)—you must file an official complaint. Since then most of my experiences have been good, but on the rare occasions where I’ve been unhappy with my experience, I find I’ve been reimbursed for most of my outlay.
4
This reminds me of the question that Einstein asked? Is the universe fundamentally friendly or not?
"“If we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries, and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly. and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.
If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.
But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries, and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe.
It looks like their are a fair number of us all over the world, that despite the cynical politicians who try and divide us with fear, believe that it's a friendly enough universe to share their homes.
6
"... the question that Einstein asked ..."
I cannot find any credible evidence that Einstein said what you quoted. Cite a reliable source, such as an authoritative biography.
1
When Mr. Cohen writes "The natural state of politics becomes theater. Its most compelling actors, however buffoonish, prosper," he writes about kakistocracy: a condition where the leadership and core human qualities of those in charge of governing are far outstripped by the ordinary citizens they govern.
In a democracy, this is confusing. How can it be that nations of decent people collectively act to elevate the worst among them to high positions of public trust and power? Yet this is exactly what appears to be happening internationally. Perhaps a whole we are less noble than the travelers among us show themselves to be.
I have traveled a lot, visiting and living in several foreign countries and throughout the USA. Never have I confronted gratuitous disrespect of self or property. Maybe I'm just lucky, but such luck has had a long, unbroken run spanning nearly eight decades. If anybody's behavior has been questionable, it has been mine.
21
As far as I can tell, the comments criticizing Airbnb are from people who have never used the service.
I used it in a dozen countries and will continue to do so. But I don't think a comparison to NATO is apt.
11
While reading this article, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a Russian friend who was here shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was a well educated man, a professor of engineering at a university in Russia, here on an exchange program between American and Russian universities. One statement he made during our conversations stood out: "If you want to know a country, don't look at their government. Get to know their people."
That sentiment seems truer today than ever, on both sides of the ocean! And if a for-profit business enterprise like airbnb can promote the understanding that people are people pretty much everywhere, then good for them! There is no utopia, we have to remember that -
13
Two points:
The bad experiences seem to be centered in large urban areas where the interactions are brief or non-existent, and the effect on affordable housing is greater.
And some of the problems could be resolved with sensible regulation like a few commenters have observed. Abide by community rules and all might be well.
But like most capitalistic schemes, from small to large corporate entities, sensible regulation of them has been deemed an undue burden on the businesses.
Poor babies. Poor us. But when Airbnb works with people of goodwill, it's great.
10
There is one important reality to consider: it takes only a small percentage of people to upset or put in danger society, perhaps as little of one per cent, even less. The great and I mean the overwhelming percentage of people want to live and work in peace and are tolerant and accepting. However, this great mass is often passive and allows the small minority to dominate. It is the normal reaction of not getting into a fight, especially if one doesn't see that it affects him, Often, we confuse the greater shouting and energy of these small groups with the totality of the population. Their influence becomes greater when, through inactivity or non-participation of the majority, they manage to put in power one of their own, hence people like Orban, Trump or any other so called nationalist come to acquire the authority to create disruption and, if a country is unlucky, an eventual authoritarian structure.
13
Can the greed, cruelty and selfishness of one person negate the goodwill of a nation?
I know my fellow Americans to be honest and generous to a fault, yet we have just committed a grevious sin. Our country, at the behest of one person, separated thousands of children from their parents and now lacks the will or knowledge to unite some of them.
But some of our fellow Americans support Q that promoted lies about a political party claiming they had a child sex ring etc. but still support the one American that separated thousands of children from their parents. Resist and Vote in Nov.
36
@tom Supporting Q or this president is a symptom of soul sickness. Conspiracies and vicious liars alike attract people of faith, those who need no evidence and are willing to suspend all disbelief if it means they get to feel superior and safe.
That there are enough Americans who fall in with the likes of contemptuous crooks, who laugh at and steal from them behind their credulous backs, tells us we're in grave straits. When a country is no longer a place where good work leads to promotions, where progress -- technological, ecological, intellectual -- is derided and feared, and when its leaders deliberately set citizens against one another on the basis of bigotry, it's hard to feel optimistic.
Faith is for those who find this world too hard to take on realistic terms. They prefer fantasies. Realists have the grim job of trying to patch things up after people who believe in Q and hotly deny the changing climate and enjoy rolling coal in the faces of cyclists and non-polluting cars have trashed the place.
2
You should have done a bit of research about airbnb Mr. Cohen. They are a greedy business capitalising on the fact that desirable tourist cities take time to police zoning regulations. They are currently being made illegal or being highly regulated in many cities including NYC, municipalities of Los Angeles County, London, Paris and Barcelona. They greatly diminish residents´ security in apartment buildings, allow for illegal and dangerous hotels rented principally by mega-hosts looking to distort the rental market by leasing properties and subletting illegally. They have nothing to do with promoting peace, but rather promoting the earning of obscene profits for their VC investors.
65
NYC statistics indicate that most AirBnB revenue goes to spaces that are fake hotels, not occupied by an owner. The harm to local housing stock and annoyance to neighbors has been measured. Disregard for exising laws, and to proprietary leases and condo bylaws is not an improvement in our daily lives. NATO, or Bluebeard the Pirate?
50
Air B&B has a model where guests rate the hosts, and hosts rate the guests. So everyone's behavior is public, and those who give offense have a mark on their records. That is exactly what is missing in most international disputes, where each side has its own self-centered view and is not accountable to the other party.
45
I would have appreciated this article more if last night at a social gathering I was seated at the same table with Trump couple. The good news, the other couples, although conservative in leanings, were able to carry on a fairly understandable conversation. The bad news, we all had a difficult time finding the phraseology to engage in a meaningful conversation with the Trumpites. The strange thing about the conversation, was, not so much the denial of facts and the spinning of bizarre conspiracy theories--- that was kind of entertaining---but, the feeling the couple imparted that they were wired into the real truth as spoken by Trump, and that we were part of an alternative world brainwashed by CNN and the NYT. As my wife said when we left the dinner, "If Trump said elephants could fly, they would believe it."
54
@ACJ We're witnessing the birth and cultivation of a large-scale cult. It's fascinating to watch it play out in the U.S.
If the Dems don't take at least one chamber in November, the entertainment factor will drop to zero as the American experiment as we've known it comes to a close. What's next? Perhaps flying elephants.
3
"The greatest danger in turbulent times is not the turbulence, but to act with yesterday’s logic.” Indeed. This sums up most of the economic order and Trumpian/Republican politics. Sigh. Maybe people-to-people connections will finally turn the tide as Mr. Cohen writes. All for it!
11
You went out on a limb on this one. It is just one more business making use of current technologies. Most of the time there is minimal interaction between client and owner. And, how many people use it, really? Fractionally, I am sure it is a tiny proportion of the population of any country, that fraction that was already used to move around. So, Airbnb is a good business, but has little influence on anything.
26
@Ard Airbnb's market valuation is higher than those of the top five hotel chains combined. And according to a report from Morgan Stanley, 25% of travelers used Airbnb at least once last year — and half of those bookings would otherwise have gone to hotels.
In suggesting that Airbnb has "little influence on anything," you may be the one who's gone out on a limb here.
3
To compare the nation state to airbnb is absurd unless as I have discussed in many articles, the nation has become a marketplace without nationality or commonality existing as a frame work for individuals to make money like the USA. Hoevever, that can not be true. The use of force is the area of the nation state. It is the singular characteristic. It can force by soft power and hard power. Airbnb barely uses soft power.
As to sitting down and eating, that is more fuzzy "hippie" logic. The nation state has no desire to share because it has the ultimate meal:unbridled power.
10
The fact that you, mr. Cohen, had such wonderful experiences while using AirBnB, shows only that a lot of the AirBnB hosts/guests share your worldview: open minded people, prepared to meet people from a different culture in a positive way. However, this class of citizens is just a small subset of all people who make up our societies. Note the results of elections in Italy, Hungary, Poland, USA, Note Brexit. Through AirBnB, you will most probably never meet anyone of the millions of disgrunteld people who blame all their personal troubles on those @#$ foreigners and on their @#$ government which allowed these foreigners to enter the country. Even if these people spend a holiday abroad, they will not let it change their narrow mindset.
110
@Leen
That' s exactly what I thought. The Airbnb people are a self selected sample that is not representative of the general population.
6
Agree with @Leen. Would be interesting to see data on presidential preference of Airbnb hosts and guests.
2
AirBnB has become a bully in my city, using the state legislature (Tennessee) to override local ordinances in Nashville. Nashville has passed laws limiting the number of investor-owned short term rentals in neighborhoods, and Air BnB tried to get those laws overturned in the Tennessee legislature. I used to be a frequent AirBnB guest and now have returned to traditional hotels or licensed Bed and Breakfast establishments.
58
Mr. Cohen hasn't stayed at an AirBNB lately. While some sights are as he describes, increasingly they are apartments bought for the purpose of leasing--essentially, unregulated hotels. There are many exceptions to this, but that is the trend.
88
@Mike Livingston
Local real estate agent told me that 50% of home purchases are made by outsiders as investments. Investors are even buying land and building houses to rent as STVR. I spoke to a man who told me that they had put offers on two houses here only to have them purchased by the listing agent who then converted them to Airbnb. Our area is becoming more like a Disney resort than a genuine neighborhood; you don’t go expecting to meet locals, just other tourists.
8
Look, BnBonline and VRBO were around long before AirBnB. AirBnb just takes it down a notch with sleeping on someone's couch and acting like a jerk because, hey, it's cheap and you don't need manners if you're cheap. AirBnB should get over itself, or I will stick exclusively with VRBO and BnBonline, k?
10
Time to re-read Moral Man and Immoral Society (Reinhold Niebuhr-1932)?
4
Rather than the new NATO, Airbnb is most likely the new roving cash cow, allowing cash strapped householders to reap a few bucks from cost conscious tourists. Good for them & no love lost on the greedy hostelries, rural & urban, who think a bed is worth shaking down the weary.
15
I practically live in Airbnbs. Lets face it. We live with fear; it crept in our DNA and pretty much all of it is caused by blaming others for things more imaginary than real hence their response and our response to theirs...
Let's share, save, and get to know each other.
Keep these articles coming!
13
It's wonderful that people everywhere are hospitable and kind - that's been my experience, too. That has nothing to do with Airbnb, beyond its ability to monetize a certain story of human kindness and connectivity.
Airbnb in practice does not resemble a story in which hospitable hosts all over the world take in world travelers. It's a matter of creating illegal and unregulated hotels out of apartments in areas where housing is badly needed.
No one is home when you get there to welcome you in and show you to the spare bedroom. For all you know the "homeowner" runs 500 little hotels like this. It's nice to be both hotelier and landlord without the taxes, the insurance, the legal liability, the regulations, the fact that your tenants and customers have rights.
In fact, Airbnb is a parasite on human good will and society, attaching itself to systems it invests nothing in, eating away at the connectivity of specific places as it sings its own praises in the name of global connection. The ghost apartments, the flouting of rules like zoning laws that the community made for its own internal order, the skyrocketing rents homogenizing whole areas overnight, the neighborhoods with no permanent residents to invest their lives in them.
In all this it appears to be just the latest manifestation of unbridled capitalism, that notorious exploiter and eroder of human care, community, and kindness.
147
@Bluelotus We rent a room in our home on Airbnb. We are always there to greet our guests and we really enjoy getting to know them over breakfast. We live in a small town in Indiana and we like meeting new people from around the country. So what Roger Cohen writes about is our experience.
I agree that the Airbnb model has been abused in many instances, particularly in larger cities, and we would support some regulations to discourage that.
But we do think that things like Airbnb show the way forward in a world where all work is being automated for people to still have a role in society and to still have something valuable to do.
You say this is just another example of unbridled capitalism and without some regulation, maybe it could become that. But the reality is that we have to change our whole economic system in response to automation. Capitalism no longer works when workers are not needed. It may sound like a old communist cliche, but we all need to own the means of production. Communism did not work when workers were still needed for production, but when workers are not needed, then it becomes really the only way forward. Airbnb and other aspects of the sharing economy are models both for where individual people can own the means of production and can do things that give them meaning rather than just living off the income from the robots.
2
This article left me scratching my head. AirBnb only cares about making money - period. They are greedy bullies. They knowingly operate in locations where transient rentals are banned, aggressively sue cities that try to restrict them and "bribe" politicians (through political donations and tax revenue promises) to get their way. Meanwhile, there is a severe shortage of rental housing in cities where they operate as investors convert apartments and homes into short term rentals. The guests do not get along with the neighbors for the most part, they don't even try to (because they are here today and gone tomorrow, obnoxious behavior is far too common). My neighborhood has been destroyed by these rentals and I cannot believe how bad (noise, large parties, trash thrown everywhere) the guests have been. A better comparison to AirBnb would be cancer - it's a malignant cancer on our neighborhoods.
81
@RAR I have an ArBnB in my finished basement. I live upstairs and I would never move and just rent the rest of the house. I agree that using entire apartments limit appropriate long term rentals and should be regulated. I live in a tourist town and have not heard any negatives about the AirBnB industry. I should talk to someone on my local planning board to find out what, if anything, the local AirBnB's are doing to the housing situation.
In addition, i have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like my Democratic sign for Antonio Delgado on my lawn. I think the person who commented that Air renters are of like mind is correct.
6
Thousands of years of evolution have favored the humans who formed a group to enhance their chances to survive and thus pass on their genes. In order for this to work, the individual had to give up some autonomy to the group. "Us versus them" was the result and it is inbred in us.
In order to be a truly sovereign country it became necessary to control the borders of your territory and to have your own currency. Airbnb will not change this. NATO is just this type of arrangement involving a group of countries.
4
The new NATO? Hilarious. More like Airbnb is the new pollution. Almost every great European city is being destroyed by Airbnb - and many municipalities are taking serious steps to curtail it - if not ban it. Just ask the mayors of Paris, Prague, Rome, Barcelona or Amsterdam about Airbnb...
Too many noisy visitors who consume the resources but contribute nothing to the public purse. City centres - and suburbs - are afflicted by groups arriving in residential areas off flights at all hours, struggling to gain access. Suitcases pulled along cobbled streets at all hours. Rubbish left out on the streets when rooms are vacated for dogs to pull apart. Partying with no sensitivity towards the neighbours. Loud music played at all hours. A group of 8 comes back to their room in pairs after 2:00 am and has to ring buzzers and shout to waken friends to gain entrance. Why should they care? They're moving on tomorrow....
So far as inner city residents are concerned, Airbnb is an affliction that is destroying the quality of life and the sooner it is banned, the better. It's going to happen.
110
All you need to know about the degree of “goodness and trustworthiness” embedded in Mr. Cohen’s supposedly optimistic Universalist message is that he equate the potential nation-splitting forces of transnational (mostly business and trade) phenomena like Airbnb and Facebook with NATO ( the most powerful geopolitical and strategic relic of the Realist world order and the Cold War). A Neocons’ Parrot.
8
Talk about selective analysis!
Airbnb is a sociological bubble. People who use it mainly belong to a certain socio-economic class, across nations: those who can take vacations. How many other strata of society have no connection to this kind of world?
This article is like saying, people who live in the same gated communities seem to more or less get along and respect each other, so therefore the state of the world must be better than it looks.
But basically, the thesis of the article is not at all new, and is in fact kind of depressing, for the claim is, that if you can participate at a certain level of economic activity you will likely be able to get along with others who also participate at that level. That is hardly new ground there.
Birds of a feather naturally flock together, as Aesop said.
But our problem is, how do we get all these different birds to coexist?
A very bourgeois column, Mr. Cohen. Think bigger, and outside of your summer vacation's bucolic insight into how the fortunate have good times together.
56
@pjc "People who use it mainly belong to a certain socio-economic class, across nations: those who can take vacations." That would include a majority of the people in this country, at least in a limited way. I have taken one vacation that wasn't heading home to tend to family matters (a mother in the high 80's), and I used Airbnb for a pleasant stay in someone's extra bedroom for a weekend. If I hadn't used airbnb, I probably wouldn't have taken the vacation, as the expense is simply too high. If you want to speak of bourgeois, speak of the people taking vacations in places where they spend several hundred dollars a night on hotel accomodations.
2
The national state is obsolete for sure. We need to eliminate all borders between countries. The wealthy need to go to low tax enclaves and put their money in offshore tax free accounts or else they will have the support the poor moving into the more wealthy countries. The poor masses throughout the world need to move the the more wealthy countries. The ones holding the bag are the middle classes in the wealthy countries who are losing their jobs to scab labor. Air B and B is a symptom of the stress the middle class is under. You don't rent your place out unless you really need the money.....and it is not a lot of money anyway.
21
Just stayed in a very misrepresented AirBnb in Denver-It was in a not so nice part of the downtown-The reviews were totally bogus-Makes me think you sure can’t believe them for face value and their friends must leave the good ones-Facebook is not sat up that I could find a way to leave a bad review as it can’t get past the host-Not so sure I’ll use them again-I have never had problems with VRBO-
8
Sounds a little like someone else's theory of the relationship between golden arches and peace. A good effort but you lost me at :"We look to Facebook for identity.”
40
Hegel's synthesis-antithesis, again. Action generates reaction. Time will tell which wins. Too soon for optimism or pessimism.
2
Great to read Mr. Cohen in a more optimistic frame of mind. As a very new Airbnb host my experiences have all been as positive as he describes. My small house on the Atlantic coast of Ireland has been rather empty in the six years since my husband died. One of my nieces suggested that I try it, and after a bit of painting, and shifting things about and general brightening up my first guests visited me in early summer. They have their side of the house, I have mine. When I'm cooking and serving their breakfast is usually when the chat starts. People really are marvellous and unique and interesting. As I just have one spare bedroom I only have two guests at a time so can give time and engagement when they do want to talk about the locality, the Irish weather or even that most dangerous of subjects, politics. Haven't had a djt voter yet, that may well stretch my politeness to new levels. But, as Mr. Cohen says, it's the individual contact that is most important, and crucially, most engaging, fun and interesting. I love where I live and love sharing it with people who are interested enough in the area to make the effort to come here. This evening I will be welcoming a Polish couple and their two dogs, I'm hoping my dog won't be the the one to cause an International incident of the canine variety. Up to now it's been peace perfect peace.
77
@Geraldine Bird, we agree with your experience with AirBnB. We have been renting out a space that used to be our video studio, now that we have retired.
Renting out this space has made it possible for us, me and my wife and my parents in their 90's (they moved in with us 9 years ago) to stay here and afford the taxes and upkeep of the property. We have a compound with 2 houses with a fantastic view of the mountains here in Northern NH.
We have always been entrepreneurs, video production and CNC manufacturing of camera gear, sold all over the world using the WEB. It is so nice to be able to stay here where we love it.
As far as tax goes we have always paid the room and meal tax in NH (9% in NH) and we have renters insurance as well as the insurance airBnB provides.
We have met people from all over the world and everyone has been super friendly, no bad experiences at all. We make it very clear we live on the property and are here full time, I think this makes a huge difference.
Short term rentals have been a tradition for hundreds of years and AirBNB is just the latest way to market it. Just like selling video gear on the WEB. The WEB is just the new and disruptive way of marketing everything. AirBnB is not evil it is just a new way to make it easier to market your rental.
7
Right. But you’re present in your own house and are a gracious host. That’s why you have a good experience with your renters.
I have stayed at Airbnbs a few times under the same circumstances and my experience also has been positive.
The (more numerous) other comments describe a different situation.
8
Mr. Cohen is here more optimistic and hopeful then he is usually. Even in the sorry state we are in with a scoundrel leading our nation, some optimism is not irrational.
The information he shares about air B&B is heartening. Comments about sitting down and sharing dinner with others, presumably of different persuasions, seems Pollyannaish to me. You can certainly try, but I think we all know how Thanksgiving dinners with extended family often turn out.
With Donald Trump and the republican party in power, fear and anxiety seem more warranted. Mr. Cohen, understandably, doesn't want to write the same column over and over again, but I'd be more optimistic if there were indications that the perennial nonvoters, especially young people and Hispanics, will make it to the polls this November, and do their part to end this nightmare.
13
Probably the best analogy to the dichotomy Roger mentions is the story of Christmas in 1914. Europe was at war with itself. The governments and the moneyed interests who profit from conflict had thrown people against each other in what was supposed to be "the war to end all wars."
But only for that first Christmas, some of the ordinary soldiers stopped marching to the beat of the war drums, they stopped killing each other. They shared pictures of their wives or girlfriends, some even played improvised sports games together with the "enemy."
Alas, the recognition and respect of each other's humanity was not enough to do more than create a footnote in the history of the carnage. All too soon the orders came down dehumanizing them all back into killing machines, and they did so for almost another full four years.
Airbnb and social media in our time may represent the intent of the soldiers to find our common humanity, but we, like they, are operating under powers and economic interests that have no more regard for us as individuals, than the Generals of a century ago who would order the slaughter of thousands for a gain of three inches. Until this truly populist version of humanity, somewhat empowered by tech, can find a way to power, I don't see an upending of the status quo anytime soon.
26
@Patrick-thank you for the reminder of what happened in 1914; so inspiring.
6
Ok, so Airbnb helps people who are in the home rental market connect, and it's been successful all around the world. The part I need help with is how is that related to NATO, a strategic military alliance setup to deter the growth of the USSR?
19
What?
AirBnB is about disrupting the hoteliers' control over one market, as Uber is about freeing another from the hackney medallion.
NATO is about encouraging freedom and democracy by offering the aegis of the United States and allied liberal democracies.
If anything, they're all united by being means to benefits for everyone by lowering individuals' barriers to entry.
They're all about aligning self-interests. Altruism's got nothing to do with it.
36
@John To add to my other comment - AirBnB is about more than just financial if you and your host want it to be --- it is not NATO but it can promote talk among people from various cultures and eating together and talking they lead to understanding or at least have in my year long experience.
3
@John
You may be naive about NATO--which is in the service of protecting and maintaining the global capitalist status quo. They are the international foot soldiers for the elite classes. Genocides don't matter to them...as long as it does not disrupt their business pipelines of oil flow, financial institutions, and other "free trade" "stability."
I'd love to follow the author's optimistic idea about Airbnb as a vehicle for interconnecting people but it is missing the point, IMHO. Airbnb model is purely transactional: people are trying to make and save money in the hospitality industry. This is the primary reason why majority of them are being nice to each other, which is a positive thing of course. But this positivity has much more to do with how unrestricted [by the borders, religions, etc.], capitalism should work in the 21st century, rather than with people's desire to connect with or understand each other. This distinction can be easily blurred by mixing up two sides of tourism as a pure business and a travel attraction.
19
@NN As someone who has been using AirBnB to travel around Europe I would say this is mostly true. I could not do this trip if not for AirBnB; I could not afford it. In many cases I stay at private places so like here in Stockholm, I have never seen my host. Also as I recently pointed out on their FB page a picture of a sofa is not a host - it is someone missing the whole point of AirBnB. These purely transactional experiences do out weigh the experience AirBnB promotes BUT I have had those amazing encounters as well. Dinner with my French host and husband in Avignon who wanted to connect to this single traveler, a Belfast host who had a little birthday party for me with his friends, and a host in Skibbereen, a trump supporter, who not only did we have discussions without getting mean but who spent the day with me getting to know my West Cork family. These experiences do promote understanding and connection and because of AirBnB this traveler has connected to more people she would not otherwise have met. Also I travel freely between borders because I have Irish citizenship and so couldn't agree more with your comment about unrestricted borders and capitalism being the future. I do agree though, with many of the people I have met -- having a safety net as provided by the EU -- health care from one country to the other, education, great affordable public transit, etc those basics available to all, that is key as well to everyone benefiting.
9
A couple of summers ago we stayed a few days at an Airbnb in Budapest. The apartment was clean and comfortable and in a good location, but we like to cook some of our meals when we travel and the kitchen was not very well equipped. The airconditioning broke at one point and the owner had it fixed the next day.
We wrote a mainly complimentary review (4 out of 5) but mentioned these issues. The owner wrote a response claiming that we trashed the apartment and advising others never to rent to us.
So much for decency and altruism and the new NATO.
20
Most of the academic research to assist with health, environment, technical advancement issues comes with tax dollars going to university research which are then siphoned away by private entities for huge mark-up/profit. For instance, pharmaceutical drugs cost are high and out of reach for many Americans and are cheaper in other countries. There is a value for the Govt. to regulate these prices then the average citizen.
8
I get what you are saying Mr Cohen but in my opinion, as it is big business is out of control. Lets look at the pharmaceutical industry for one example. They pray on out of luck ex factory workers and other down in the mouth folks with fentanyl and other opioids. They mark up life saving drugs 1000s of times the cost to make. All the while, scientists are screaming for new antibiotics and anti-fungal medications and the pharmaceutical industry won’t put a dime towards that kind of research because its not profitable enough. The world is no where near ready for a world government to reign on big MNC on a global scale so to be honest, I think we ought to stick to the nation-state and de-globalize somewhat until humanity can see ourselves as one species instead of citizens of a country/tribe. Then I’ll be fine with full scale globalization and a world government that can reign in the abuse of MNC.
12
Roger, seriously...if it is just peer to peer this model would probably be just fine.
But it has become an industry and Airbnb and other "sharing" tech companies would much rather sweep it under a huge rug. It is unacceptable. Landlords who own rental apartments by the tens and hundreds are using extrajudicial means to evict long term tenants in favor of quick profits from lucrative airbnb rentals.
They would much rather leave it empty, when the region is starved for housing than rent it long term. We have NIMBYism and passive governments to help it along in not building more housing.
Neighbors of these buildings and indeed other residents are unhappy because some of these temporary residents don't play by the "rules." They pack in the apartments, have parties and generally disturb other tenants.
So you have to pay attention to the darker side as well. This is duplicated in other sharing models. The tech companies make a lot of money, kind of encourage mini entrepreneurs who see openings in setting up their own businesses on the backs of these sharing companies. It is not as rosy as you paint it. I found it cheaper to rent a car from National than rent one from a "car sharing" company. I did an A/B test.
Then do you really want to get into the Amazon "slave labor" model? It is wonderful for AMZ and others, not so much for freelancers doing work for them at subsistence levels.
105
Those who travel extensively know that a central truth about humanity is that people everywhere are pretty much the same. They want the same things, the same things make them happy or sad, and everywhere they’re fundamentally decent sorts. They’re also not stupid – anywhere. Airbnb isn’t really the new NATO – globe-straddling digital social services are becoming more that than Airbnb. But people don’t misbehave in the homes of others because they know they would be banned from access to the service if they did. Definitely NOT stupid.
Where friction occurs between people is where they rub up against each other, where interests conflict. One would think that inspired global leaders would take great efforts to assure that those who eat from the same plate don’t take so much that they threaten the availability of food for the rest diving in with their forks. But, then, we’ve been talking about doing that for thousands of years and we still haven’t learned how to do it successfully. Of course, inspired global leaders are rarities.
Everything that contributes to breaking down the perception of alienness between individuals and peoples, from technology that acceptably translates different languages and allows people to communicate effectively and build digital relationships … to Airbnb … allows us to perceive communities as universal. But we still need to far better manage the emergence of opposed interests, and this is what has kept us a species at war for thousands of years.
23
@Richard Luettgen "But people don’t misbehave in the homes of others because they know they would be banned from access to the service if they did." Mr. Leuttgen, please don't include me in this group. Some (most?) of us don't misbehave because it's obnoxious. It it has little or nothing to do with our so-called rating on AirBnB, Uber or whatever service we use. We also don't throw eggs at windows when there's no chance of being caught. Just because you appear to be only transactional, doesn't mean all, most, or even many of us are. We do the right thing because it's the right thing, regardless of the chance of punishment.
32
@Richard Luettgen
Your second paragraph says it all, and yet you support the Party and people who have set things up so that their chosen few get more and more of what is on that plate while the base they claim to care about gets less and less with an occasional crumb thrown their way.
1
Oh please. Airbnb is yet another of the American tech companies which have thrived because they monetize law-breaking.
Two years ago on a vacation I was woken in the middle of the night because the flat above ours had been, unbeknownst to the property holder, sublet on Airbnb. The Airbnb renter did not have his keys, so his strategy was to make as much noise as possible until some of the other, legitimate renters came to his rescue. Well, we didn't have his keys either.
Entire cities in Europe now outlaw Airbnb. More will follow. Is that what Mr. Cohen hopes for Nato?
174
Isolation is a big feature of the AirBNB experience. In March, we stayed in one in London that was in a new condo complex with streamlined modern architecture but hardly anyone around. I had a stroke while there. We immediately called the emergency number, but because my symptoms had subsided, they wouldn't send an ambulance and we had to get to the emergency room on our own [national health care in England is a separate issue]. If I had been staying in a hotel, I would have called the front desk who would have arranged medical care (maybe still going to the hospital where they again would have blown me off); at least in the hotel there would be someone who cared about my welfare, if only to ensure they didn't have a dead body on their hands.
20
@Leonardo Win some, lose some. I've had mixed experiences w/ both AirBnB and hotels. Of course, never yet had to contend w/ a life-threatening situation at either (but should we base every daily decision on the possibility that we might experience a fatal incident today?)
1
Two points:
I started to use airbnb in my 80s and my experiences have all been positive.
Ernest Bevin - a great politician and statesman, in 1945 said, in one of his first House of Commons speeches as Foreign Secretary, "There never has been a war yet, which, if the facts had been put calmly before the ordinary folk could not have been prevented... The common man, I think, is the great protection against war."
27
Airbnb may be alike today's NATO, but that's not encouraging. Airbnb is a transactional institution, but does not establish relationships, long term goals, shared values, and the like; it's exchanging money for an arrangement.
Donald Trump, with no experience outside of his namesake business, operates solely on a transactional basis. Trump brings that to NATO, the G7, and other foreign affairs. Trump cares about what's in it for him, and what he thinks is good for his image. Long term planning means nothing to him; neither does building trust nor mutual identification. It's just the immediate.
An impersonal calculation is fine for a business, but as we see, it should have no bearing on international alliances.
51
This sounds like a couple of old Tom Friedman columns revisited. I don't mind people making an honest buck on the side, and there's no doubt that this business model seems to be a success.
And that's a problem. Success breed imitators, and it's worth considering the consequences if Airbnb's way of doing business becomes the norm in our economy.
The model relies on a corporate entity that does little but put people - in this case renters and guests - in touch with each other. The corporate owner takes a fee for use of its network and its name, but otherwise risks nothing. (Already plenty of examples exist of employers pretending that their employees not employees but independent contractors.) Nice work - all the risks for no benefits.
Entrepreneurship is all very well, but how would an economy fare if large numbers of us depended on selling our services to each other? The more of us rely on this, the fewer customers each would have.
And so to another factor. What is to stop some third party, say a private equity firm, inserting itself between Airbnb and its guests? It would buy up a bunch of properties and in effect use them collectively as an Airbnb "franchise". The individual entrepreneurs would be replaced by a much smaller number of the corporate variety, which could then undercut the remaining small operators.
All in all, this looks to me like yet another example of trickle-up economics.
123
@mancuroc
It's also called a parasite economy. These new "platforms" are just a means of extracting more value from the worker--a sort of neo-feudalism if you will. The same master/slaveowner relationship disguised as independent entreneurship. All the little "entrepreneurs" contribute their "capital" in the form of labor in order for these tech startups to build their IPO-bound machines and laugh all the way to the bank with their mega earnings.
The real model of the future: the worker-owned cooperative. Just a new idea that's been around for 150 years, but that the 1% strata deplores because their easy golden-goose-that-lays-the-egg lifestyle would vanish.
6
There is nothing more noble than our willingness to share with others what we hold near and dear. And Airbnb is proof we can understand each other, for an exchange of a modicum of money for a lot of trust and social good. Still, let me be the spoiler for once, as the need for caution and healthy skepticism must be preserved...as there will always be some, a few, rotten apples out there to muddle the water. Perhaps we ought to keep NATO, at least for now.
7
I agree with the optimistic notion that people across the world can be very nice to each other. The article romanticizes a business experience unnecessarily.
When I use airbnb, I don't search listings by qualities of host, other than reliability. I mostly search by qualities of the rental being offered. The nicest person in the world offering me a bad deal loses out to a grump offering a palace.
Also, I have never broken bread on airbnb. Half the time I haven't even met the host.
And yet -- I agree entirely that the bleak view that people are hateful to each other and nothing else terribly overstates the gentler reality.
28
The idea that AirBnB is about individuals connecting is a joke. I've used it several times in several cities. I usually find myself staying in an investment apartment, living among neighbors who resent my illegal presence. The last time, in Toronto, my rental came with instructions about how to avoid the doorman's scrutiny on entering & leaving the building, and sample lies I could tell if I was questioned.
If some people are able to keep their homes or put food on the table by renting out their couch, then I would hate to stop them. But isn't that a sign that the economy is NOT working??
258
''..the Airbnb model has prospered by “pushing people to be more understanding and accepting of each other.” - No
The model is based on breaking the law and skirting tax bases that contribute back to the communities. It pits neighbor against neighbor as not only local laws are broken, but many of the condo or apartment laws that are leased out as hotel rooms. It undermines the structures in place that civilize us all, as we try to just live our daily lives.
There is a much greater shift afoot and that is essentially the privatization of everything at all costs, while if you have the financial backing behind you (start ups) then you can use whatever model you like, so long as you turn a profit at the end of the day.
It is to the destruction of hoteliers, cab drivers and anyone that has paid into the system, but it is now out of a job because of the ''sharing economy''. I think no one is sharing with them in their misery and unemployment.
It is all leading to even more discrepancy between the haves and the have nots as all boundaries erode to how anyone can rise up in station. It is only a select few that can, and they have to step on so many others to do it.
We are indeed connecting, but not in ideal circumstances.
234
@FunkyIrishman I rent a home on Airbnb and to do so in my community I must get a business license based on the income of my rental. Just like I pay business license fees to conduct my carpentry business. I had done more traditional long term renting but after the last long term tenant trashed my house so bad I had to completely renovate, I chose to try this rental style because I take care of the house myself. If the municipality decides not to allow short term rentals I'll have to go back to long term and vet the renters better or sell.
4
@FunkyIrishman My wife and I have used Airbnb three times, with actual hosts, and been pleased. In one case the parking was edge-of-the-street (cul de sac) and we only saw the hostess when we first arrived; the other two, driveway parking and live-in hosts. When the government defends hotel and taxi monopolies against competition, hurting poor people both as producers who could be earning something and as consumers who could find lower prices and more flexible service, that's cronyistic greed at work. Not "structures ...that civilize us all," but structures by which the well-connected oppress their victims. Repent from these bureaucratic sins.
8
@KH
Some communities are trying to grapple with the influx, and that is a good thing. If both types of businesses can coexist, pay taxes and follow guidelines accordingly, then there is nothing to say, I suppose.