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Airbnb's struggles go beyond people spending less. It's losing some travelers to hotels.
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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A chore list is only part of the issue. The costs are rapidly inflating. Hotels are now far cheaper, even on a per room basis. With fees (including pricey cleaning fees and AirBNB/VRBO service fees that are on top of the percentage they take from hosts) rates will double or triple what they quote initially.
Then there are what they have done to neighborhoods. Property speculators have bought up housing and inflated prices for residents, all while damaging local hotels.
It was fine when it was people renting out a room or vacation homes at a reasonable price. I used to rent a tiny 3 season camp cabin in Maine on a lake for $750 a week. It was a guest cabin by an owner occupied 4 seasons home. It’s (and the main house) have since been bought by a wealthy private jet salesman that rents both spots, the cabin now going for over $1,600 a week with fees. They made zero changes down to the furniture, dishes, and towels. This year we are staying a a hotel rental that goes for under $1,000 for the week with no chores and regular maid service.
The price jump happened when people started buying properties exclusively to use as STRs. People with a second home or a guest suite they already owned for personal reasons could rent out for some extra spending money without having to turn a "profit" on it.
But when they started taking out loans and buying properties exclusively for renting, the costs of rentals had to exceed the cost of owning the property. And when profits matter, hotels can afford to be WAY more cost-competitive than houses because they can cram thousands of people into a single acre of land.
I don't really understand the pricing complaint.
Like most markets vendors are charging the best price they can get away with. If a given option like short stay isnt good value then find an maybe a hotel is a better fit, and that's fine. If your preference is for hotels for this reason then that doesn't mean short stay providers are evil, it just means that their product isn't the best fit for your needs.
For me, with weird dietary habits and a young family, having a full kitchen saves us a heap of money and a lot of drama. A week long holiday without a kitchen gets obscenely expensive in a hotel + restaurant format.
In Australia we just don't have that problem with hidden add on fees. Legislatively, the listed price must be the final price. As an aside, and I'm not offering this to entice you to use AirBnB, but I've heard that if you access Australian sites like airbnb.com.au you can see the full / final fee in your own currency.
I also don't really buy the harm to neighbourhoods thing, as a general proposition. Yes there are some suburbs where it makes sense for the city to prohibit houses or apartments being used for short stay accommodation. Generally though, I don't think it has much of an impact on the availability of housing for locals - it's certainly not the primary reason for the scarcity of accommodation.
I'm not sure about your country but here we have hotels that offer family style rooms with full kitchens in them. The ones ive stayed in weren't much more than a non-kitchen room either.
I think the assumption is youll cook for yourself in those types of hotels. Most of them have laundry on site too.
Here in the US, I expect a normal motel/hotel room to have a coffee machine, mini fridge and maybe a microwave, but that’s it. However some also include a kitchenette and I expect it at a “Suite” or longer stay hotel. And of course in many tourist spots you can rent a fully furnished house
Note: a “Suites” Hotel is not the same as some normal hotels offering a suite that’s usually 1.5 bedrooms
Yeah, I wish we had such a law in my US state. But we don’t. But if they want to play those games, I’m not playing along or trying the Australian site. But around here, we do have hotel options with kitchens.
The complaint is showing why the things in the article are happening. People are choosing hotels because they are priced out of short term rentals.
And it depends on where you are. A standard working city, sure. A common vacation destination, it is absolutely an issue.
That's pretty much everything I said, just more pouty.
Your reply “I’m happy to overpay for a kitchen” and “we don’t have that problem in Australia” wasn’t pouty?
Your strawman is pouty LOL.
I also used to think that, since I haven’t heard it being a problem near me. However a week or so ago, I saw a statistic that 20% of single family home purchases in the US are now by corporations. That’s not just short term rentals but a couple of large companies have gotten into real estate hedging and flipping in a big way.
So, yes, if that statistic is true, there are a huge number of neighborhoods transitioning from owner permanent residences to corporate owned and short term stay. I can see that corporate role increasing prices and definitely short term stay people will affect the neighborhood or aren’t as likely to care for the property
Corporate ownership is an entirely different problem.