Excellent post, Janis.
Do we celebrate on FODOR when a thread reaches 100 ?

"We have met so many wonderful people in Paris and France."

But you don't care that the people of Paris are opposed to what you are doing?

I am doing a couple of AirBnB rentals on my next trip, but not in Paris, and only from people with a single property and in places where the hotel scene is particularly bad. Every time I look at AirBnB I am amazed by the size of the fees, the guys running the site must be making out like bandits. I prefer to pay the local hotel tax.

With almost 11 million people in Paris, you are certainly painting a 'broad brush'.

Whatever your opinion of me is 'fine'.

It is just . . . you got snarky w/ the Parisians posting about the crack down/why airbnb is a scourge.

I'm totally sure you didn't mean to, but in that one post you definitely came across as an 'ugly American'. Look at it from their point of view - not 'I'm visiting and I'm entitled'.

Please and thank you with everyone no matter where I am is my persona.

On an individual basis, it's always 'there country' and I respect people in all the countries we have visited.

But janisj, I appreciate the comment.

"...I am amazed by the size of the fees, the guys running the site must be making out like bandits. I prefer to pay the local hotel tax."

How do you know you aren't paying the local hotel tax when you book an Airbnb accommodation? It can be rolled into the price of the accommodation and how would you know if the host didn't make a point of telling you. I pay 10% of my Airbnb income to the county in bed tax, exactly as the commercial establishments do. In a discussion such as this one, where I'd hope people are trying to get some sort of feel for the truth, a simple statement such as that, the assumption that Airbnb hosts don't pay taxes, perpetuates misinformation.

Regarding the fees, as a user of the site on both sides of the equation, I pay fees when I travel using the site and when travelers rent from me. I've been doing it for 5 years now and have never felt they were unreasonable.

In my April visit, I booked an apt. through a different site than Airbnb.

One big difference is that the Wifi was very fast. They had Free Internet and I was able to stream video easily.

Hotel wifi is such a ripoff these days.

It occurred to me since I posted above, the only difference between fees on the Airbnb site, and fees at hotels, is that you know what they are on Airbnb. Don't kid yourself and believe there are no fees wherever you book a hotel. They are simply not itemized. I, for one, am glad to know what fees I'm paying and, in any case, Airbnb rentals tend to be bargains even with the fees. I just don't understand the complaint and the seeming disdain for a company that's successful and making money for the owners. The laws will evolve, as they do with anything new, but to suggest the fees are egregious is just silly, IMO.

The complaint is that tourist rental apts. make renting or buying apts. in Paris more unaffordable for residents.

I wish some economist would do a study. My suspicion is that at the margins, it makes very little difference.

If it wasn't for tourist apts., it would be foreigners buying up apts. in Paris for other reasons like investments, the way it's happening in London and NYC.

Only reason vacation apt. business thrives in Paris is that hotels are not offering good value and the 20% hotel taxes don't help either.

It is interesting that London and Paris have completely different responses to this phenomenon. London hotel are even more pricey yet the hotel industry hasn't been able to get the city to bar vacation rentals.

But London probably has no illusions about the affordability of housing being adversely impacted by vacation rentals, compared to the amount of housing speculation driven by foreign buyers.

MmePerdu - I am certainly glad to hear that you have been paying taxes all along, but that has certainly not been the case everywhere.

See, for instance http://www.slate.com/articles/busine..._pay_them.html

As to whether the fees are disclosed I find it deceptive to post a price on the main page which is a good bit removed from the actual price. And I certainly consider a "service" fee of $8 or $9 a night for EVERY night excessive. AirBnB does no extra work for the subsequent nights.

Tax cheaters are everywhere. I'm not sure what the point is beyond that, on which we agree.

Regarding what Airbnb does for it's money, I'd answer a great deal. They have an army of employees keeping things running smoothly, as every service company does, whether you're aware of them or not. I had a question a couple of days ago and a rep called me. We were on the phone for some time, I'd guess half an hour, and a senior service rep was brought in to clarify. I was impressed by the fact that no one seemed in a hurry to get rid of me. That's what's paid for by the service fees, among other things that, when everything goes smoothly, you'd have no idea they're there, working for you. I'm finding your business naiveté remarkable.

Rudeness does not advance your argument.

I suppose the facts may seem rude if one disagrees with them. Otherwise, it's just information and, I thought, what we're here for.

We used to rent apartments through agencies in Europe and elsewhere, but have switched to airbnb because of the ease of booking, the level of communication with the owner and the general support of airbnb.

My son and his friends stayed in an airbnb in Madrid for 4 months and were happy to pay more than through a local rental agency so they could have an advocate in the case of an issue. The service fee does show up in the quote and there is also always room for negotiation.

We also often stay in European hotels (mostly for work) and as all of you know, it's just not the same experience as having your own flat or guest suite. In many places, airbnbs are not such a big threat to traditional hotels because they are such different products. (Example: we have an Australian friend who when in NY loves to stay in Harlem, where there are virtually no hotels. He is now good buddies with his airbnb host and the two always go out to dinner whenever he's in town).

The Paris situation is complicated and I can see both sides, but I'm not sure whether airbnb is really that much more of threat than vrbo or other vacation rentals, which have been around for years. And in the case of renting out rooms in a primary residence (80%+ of airbnbs), airbnb actually helps the economy because it allows local owners to keep their homes.

With the current crackdown by city officials, if I were a potential renter, I would have concerns regardless of the morality of renting an illegal rental. I would hate for my vacation to be ruined if the landlord is caught and sanctioned, with my rental no longer available when I arrived. Call me conservative, but I work very hard for my money, and on vacation, I want things simple and as risk free as possible. That's just me.