By Ray Petersen — Airbnb is a global marketing phenomenon. Its story began when, former schoolmates Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were short of money to pay their rent, so they inflated an airbed, and hired out the sleeping space, for, as they put it later, “a few bucks.” Another friend, Nathan Blecharczyk, was an Internet ‘techie’ and, seeing the possibilities convinced the others to launch Airbed & Breakfast, evolving in August 2008 as AirBed&Breakfast.com.
The partners funded the website by such diverse means as selling specially branded breakfast cereals, and as part of their strategy to attract crowdfunding, changed their name to Airbnb.com in March 2009. In a demonstration of how clever marketing, and giving people ‘something for nothing,’ can be insanely successful. It is an astonishing, almost inspirational story, that ranks alongside Steve Job’s Apple, and Mark Zuckerberg’s facebook, as a societal face-changer, or maybe that should read space-changer.
Airbnb is seen as an opportunity for people to rent out spare rooms, or even their entire apartment or house, while they are not at home, thus earning some extra cash, and the company currently boasts on their website of more than 3 million listings globally, and 15 million guests worldwide, to date. So they must be doing something right, only the knives are out for the tall poppies of the accommodation ‘industry.’
I guess they, the Airbnb guys, probably wondered how they got away with it for so long, but now, the two global interest bodies who are piqued by the success of the upstarts, the taxman, and the big hotel chains, are starting to fight back. Now, whether they are right or not, is another question I guess, but the reality is that all over the world the purveyors of three, four and five star hotels, are rolling up their sleeves, and there’s no way they will fight fair!
And we can forget any notion of Airbnb being a Don Quixotic presence in the hospitality industry. They are not doing it to help Joe Bloggs earn a few bob, they are doing it to earn dollars, via commissions, and they are using those ordinary ‘Joes’ to do it for them.
I’m ambivalent, currently, about the outcome, but I do have concerns about the security aspect of people letting complete strangers into their homes. I guess that, for me, is the saving grace of the not as successful, couch-surfing. No money changes hands, and ‘guests’ are referred and recommended. The security aspect appears much less concerning. Anyway, I digress.
This week, a New Zealand Tenancy Tribunal found against a couple letting out a room of their tenanted house, saying that it constituted ‘sub-letting’ and was therefore against the tenancy agreement with their landlord. They were required to pay $1300 of the $1500 they made from the deal, in reparation. Even worse, the taxation authorities are now looking closely at their finances.
Inland Revenue New Zealand has reported that it is reviewing Airbnb operations, and is sending signals that, while a weekend here and there might be okay as a ‘little earner,’ they will certainly look to take their slice of pie from anyone obviously seeking to circumvent taxation.
“At the end of the day,” said a spokesman, “if it is earnings, we will want what we are legally entitled to.”
Airbnb is also sailing in somewhat muddier water in some areas as reports of discrimination begin to surface in the US, and all because someone publicised their interpretation that the Civil Rights Act (1968), actually allowed discrimination on the basis of race or religion, due to sub-letting not being mentioned in the act.
San Francisco Mayor, Ed Lee, in 2014, bucked the trend by actually promoting, and passing through council, a law change allowing short term lets.
Those engaged however, must be registered with the council, have
public liability insurance, and pay city taxes of 14 per cent, the same as the big hotels.
The Irish government supports the Airbnb concept, Canada is, like the States, divided, Germany and Europe are scrambling to protect their extensive hotel and B&B cultures, as much as the businesses, and globally, it appears the issue is polarising societies and governments.
And what of Airbnb in Oman? Having checked out their web offerings, there is little to be critical of, with the prices generally much more reasonable than the local hotel industry. But, you bnb’ers, I don’t really think anyone is gonna leave you alone for too long, so ‘make hay, while the sun shines,’ might be a good philosophy.
Airbnb is a remarkable phenomenon, changing the way the new generation vacations and visits, will the enthusiasm of the new age sleepover be enough to fight off corporate muscle. I don’t know, but it will be interesting to see if their recent stumbles, become a fall.
— petersen_ray@hotmail.com
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