thursdaysd

I have nothing against the <b>original</b> AirBnB concept, and have used it a total of four times myself - although not in Asia. The problem is with its unrestricted growth (never a good thing), with regular people being priced out of rental properties in the central areas of some cities, and the areas in question becoming tourist ghettos. Not to mention people finding their coops, condos etc. turning into hotels. Plus this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/10/yo...next-door.html

The AirBnB folks have shown absolutely no interest in preventing abuses.

crosscheck

<The AirBnB folks have shown absolutely no interest in preventing abuses.>

I do think they're on it. They have a lot at stake with 50 million users, 500,000 a night. From the piece you posted:

'Airbnb offers a hotline for neighbors having problems with hosts anywhere it operates and is building tools that will try to recognize parties before they happen, say when someone books a large house and that listing is immediately viewed by many other site visitors.'

The article makes it sound as if Homeaway is more to blame for Austin's party houses:

'At HomeAway, which is based in Austin and also owns Vrbo.com, executives did not want a ban and said that renting out one’s home on a short-term basis was a fundamental right. '

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I'm dealing with a homeaway manager about a villa in Costa Rica right now -- we're set to go in two weeks and it takes 5-7 days to get a response to my emails. How I wish we could have booked through airbnb.

thursdaysd

But does calling the hotline actually result in any action? Didn't sound like it from the piece. They've been fighting regulation in San Francisco (lots of money to fight a referendum), New York and Paris.

Kavey

I've heard nightmare stories about all of those services, in terms of people being let down very very badly and not getting any kind of help from the booking site at all.

I'm not sure AirBnB is any worse or better than the rest in that regard, though it's hard to know when it's based purely on the occasional news or social media story...

welltraveledbrit

Kavey so sorry to hear you've had this hassle but glad you've still got lots of time to sort out an alternative.

I guess the upside of Air bnb is that the payment goes through them and that they don't get the cash till you've arrived andand are happy with the place - 24 hours later I think. Cancellation seems to be a downside to all these rental arrangements. So far it has worked out for us but we've always rented directly from individuals - though I admit this system has great potential for fraud, particularly when you have to send a large deposit.

Kavey

AirBnB MIGHT end up 1/2 again.
The first place I contacted, not for the 1 week in Kyoto but for an overnight elsewhere, had come back to me to say that the property that they'd loaded and was showing available was actually not yet taking bookings for next year as they were reviewing whether or not they would be doing so.
They promised they'd let me know, I chased up a few weeks ago and nothing.
They just came back to me saying it's available, BUT the price has gone up from £326 per night to £447 (in GBP incl AirBnB fees) which is a hefty hefty increase.
I've written to ask if the new price includes dinner and activities, if not I'm not sure whether I'll accept.
But uuugh.

Mara

Not to beat the airbnb topic to death but I copied the below article from an online newsletter I subscribe to - Fukuoka Now.

"Fukuoka to Allow Airbnb-Style Lodgings on a Limited Scale
Dec. 10, 2015, 10:14


Fukuoka City has announced plans to launch a pilot program that will permit the rental of rooms in private homes as lodgings only during times when concerts or other major events make it difficult to secure hotel rooms. It plans to begin a trial this month coinciding with concerts by the extremely popular groups Arashi and Exile. According to Japanese law, it is technically illegal to charge visitors money to stay in private residences. In July, at the behest of local governments feeling the pinch of the nationwide hotel shortage, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour issued a statement to all of the prefectures and designated cities saying that home-sharing (as opposed to renting and listing entire apartments or homes as accommodations) does not fall under the purview of the hotel industry. Based on this, Fukuoka will grant permission for Airbnb-style accommodations on a limited basis. It will use the City homepage to recruit people offering rooms, but it will not be involved in setting prices or lodging conditions. The City will start with 17th~19th and the 26th~27th, the respective dates of the Arashi and Exile concerts, and will consider expanding the initiative to dates when large conferences are held in Fukuoka.
Source: RKB-TV Dec. 8"

Kavey

Interesting that it says Japanese law makes it illegal to charge for stays in private residences. In many other places around the world I think the legal aspect is more around the details of one's contract, which may preclude subletting, or the rules of the specific building etc. rather than a country-wide law. Perhaps that's why these guys pulled back at the first hint of potential complaint?

By the way, the Miyama thing worked out - when I politely pointed out that the increase was 37%, the young man replied that he'd gone back to his president as he agreed it was unfair, and they put the price back down to just a little above the original price - and I think the difference is only because the £ has fallen against the yen... so I went ahead and confirmed.

For Kyoto I have a back-up booking for the 7 nights in a hotel near Yasaka shrine so it's not urgent but not quite what we'd hoped either.