Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @01:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-people-have-spoken dept.

Submitted via IRC for soylent_lavender

How Airbnb's fight to overturn a New Jersey law imploded

Residents of Jersey City, New Jersey, voted overwhelmingly in favor of strict short-term rental regulations on Tuesday, putting an end to the high-profile feud between Airbnb and local officials that had engulfed the city in recent months. The move comes as a major blow to Airbnb, which spent more than $4.2 million blanketing Jersey City in television ads, handouts, and pro-Airbnb canvassers in a campaign to quash the restrictions, which will affect a popular destination for guests looking to visit Manhattan (which is just across the Hudson River and several minutes away on public transit) without running afoul of New York's tight rules on short-term rentals.

The new rules crack down on Jersey City's booming short-term rental industry—which has grown by an order of magnitude since city officials effectively legalized the practice in 2015—by requiring that owners obtain permits and limiting who can rent out their spaces and for how long. Despite an aggressive opposition campaign, voters approved the regulations in a landslide, with current estimates suggesting nearly 70% voted in favor of the measure.

Jersey City's rejection of Airbnb suggests that the tide may be changing for the so-called tech unicorn, as the city joins the growing ranks of former Airbnb defenders turned defectors. Local government officials around the nation that had been early advocates of the company, from Arizona and Louisiana to Oregon, are now turning against it. And with Airbnb looking to do an IPO in 2020—a process that involves airing out its dirty laundry for investors—every bit of regulatory backlash counts.

This story originally appeared on wired.com.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 13 2019, @06:58PM (6 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday November 13 2019, @06:58PM (#919964)

    The theory seems great: You have a spare bedroom or something, you can rent it out easily.

    In practice, what's going on includes:
    - illegal hotels [nytimes.com]
    - scams by hosts [vice.com]
    - renters trashing the premises [washingtonpost.com]

    It's almost like those laws about how hotels and normal bed&breakfasts work exist for a reason or something. I'm not saying nothing bad ever happens in hotels, but there are a lot more rules about them and a lot more mechanisms in place to prevent problems.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Insightful' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday November 13 2019, @10:16PM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday November 13 2019, @10:16PM (#920028)

    Like Uber/Lyft - just because your duck has an app now doesn't mean it's not still a duck.

    The ridesharing and roomsharing apps really do change the landscape pretty dramatically as compared to a tourist information desk and a phone directory, particularly with things like couchsurfing, but... they are stretching the lines way past the breaking point in some places, and this kind of backlash should be expected - even more than it is already happening.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @10:40PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @10:40PM (#920045)

      AirVagina! Have a vagina that you are not using all the time? Make some money on the side with AirVagina! Be your own pimp!

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday November 14 2019, @12:04AM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday November 14 2019, @12:04AM (#920078) Homepage
        Luber
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday November 14 2019, @03:34AM (2 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday November 14 2019, @03:34AM (#920182)

    >The theory seems great: You have a spare bedroom or something, you can rent it out easily.

    And that's when it really works out well, for both parties. The service is just a platform for interested parties to find each other. It's like Ebay: you need to be careful which seller you go with, and not just think they're all the same or all trustworthy.

    I've only used AirBnB once, and it was a really great experience. I wanted to visit a city in Europe but I mistimed it, and it turned out that time was the start of tourist season, and the hotel rates went through the roof. I was already in the country, and just "winging it", going from city to city in a not-well-defined plan, so I either had to pay hundreds of Euros per night for a hotel, or skip the city and go to a different city where hotel rates were better. So I got on AirBnB, and found an older couple with a private home about 30 minutes away from that city, renting out one of their kid's rooms. So I got to stay someplace not *too* far away for less than $50/night, I got to see what a private home in this country was like, and I got to meet and talk to the owner and try talking to him (I spoke some of his language, and his English was passable but not great, so it was a fun experience that way). Simply put, I never would have been able to have this kind of experience at a hotel or hostel.

    Of course, this kind of accommodation seems very different from the kind which seems to give AirBnB such a bad rap. Those places aren't ones that are owner-occupied, from what I've read. They're usually apartments that someone is renting out just for AirBnB, and are vacant other than whoever's renting it that night. It seems pretty obvious that this kind of thing is bound to be problematic and have a lot of scammers. It's very different when you're staying in someone's private home as a guest, and they're still living there. Of course, there's downsides to this kind of travel too: you're a (paying) guest in someone's home, and they're still there, so you're not going to get the kind of privacy you get in a hotel. They're probably sleeping in the bedroom next door or across the hall, and you have to share a bathroom with them. You'll see their personal effects in the bathroom. You need to be quiet at night so you don't disturb them. It's a lot like staying at your uncle's or cousin's house for the weekend. And they may have some slightly wacky rules too. My hosts had a sign on the toilet prohibiting standing up to pee, for instance, and another sign on a door warning about the cats in that room.

    • (Score: 2) by quietus on Thursday November 14 2019, @10:29AM (1 child)

      by quietus (6328) on Thursday November 14 2019, @10:29AM (#920283) Journal
      Next time you're 'whinging it' in Europe, just hail a cab and ask them to bring you to a hotel under $50 per night. These exist, even in neighborhoods where the advertised prices are +300 € per night (yes, in the centre of Paris too). Don't need to AirBnB.
      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday November 16 2019, @01:40AM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Saturday November 16 2019, @01:40AM (#920852)

        I'm not about to rely on some cab driver to find a decent hotel deal; that's the craziest thing I've heard all day. If hotels want me to stay there, then they need to advertise their real rates instead of relying on cab drivers to direct traffic to them. Finally, I don't use cabs in European cities; they have these handy things called "trains".