Hotels provide jobs but airbnb does not? How does an airbnb unit get cleaned? Sometimes by the owners who get a job; sometimes by someone they hire. Have you ever seen the wages hotels pay their maids?

Airbnb owners, who are responsible for any taxes, pay plenty of taxes all over the world.

We, and millions of other airbnb guests, do not disrupt or disturb the lives of our neighbors when we are in our apartment or coming and going thereto. I have had my sleep disturbed at many hotels (in fact owned one and experienced bad guests many times).

We have met many wonderful people all over the world and vice versa, and no one was “screwed” in the process.

whitehall, in the Dutch situation wrt rent controlled housing, this is not true. As I've been saying again and again in this thread: the particular nature of the Dutch housing market has well played into the hands of AirBnB etc, making its effects on rent controlled housing worse.

There is now an investigation underway in taxes paid by AirBnB hosts. It also turns out that in a substantial number of cases these are not owners or tenants of the properties they offer through AirBnB. And maybe you should ask Amsterdam residents whether their sleep gets disturbed by AirBnB guests.

Ok, I'm going to show my ignorance here. I've gone to the B&B site suggested by menachem and I do have interest in what I've found. But I have to ask; With regard to the crackdown discussed in this thread what is the difference between an AirBnB and a B&B? I guess I'm missing the distinction between the two arrangements in the eyes of the authorities in charge of such things. Please enlighten me.

Aside from the breakfast, of course.

Airbnb is a broker. It has nothing to do with bed and breakfasts (B&B). The short of a long story is that airbnb grew from an effort to put air mattresses on the floor of a San Francisco apartment (when the city was full for an event), and they served guests breakfast (cereal). It morphed into a short term vacation rental company similar to Home Away, VRBO and others but they had "cooler" software and set up a unique rating system for landlords and guests. And, they simply became the leader in the STVR business. So, it's basically a platform that allows a homeowner (and even companies) to rent rooms or apartments to you and me. Some B & B's even advertise on their platform. A bed and breakfast is more like a hotel but often operates in a residential neighborhood, often someone's house that may be zoned (in the case where zoning permission is required) for this use. In some areas, they may be licensed and may pay taxes. Some airbnbs may also need to get a license and pay taxes. The biggest difference is that a B&B usually gives you a room, much like a hotel room, and breakfast and normally daily maid service; an airbnb can also give you a full apartment or home generally without daily maid service.

B and B's have been around for decades, maybe longer, and, in some jurisdictions they are approved and/or licensed. In busier areas, local zoning often restricts new ones to curtail growth. Many jurisdictions have vague or perhaps silence on how to treat the fast growing STVR market, and this has created lots of litigation and lots of unresolved political angst that often gets tied in with issues of over-tourism.

Ok, I got it. Thank you for that explanation.

It's the AirBnB myth, but sadly not true.

the B&Bs on that site are registered with the Chamber of Commerce, pay their taxes, have properties that conform to fire safety regulations.
And as you can see, many offer self contained apartments.

whitehall, you keep pronouncing on the US situation, and your own practice, but it's a little different in NL. And in NL there's an even greater difference in Amsterdam.

You have claimed before that the history of airbnb is a myth. Do you have a conspiracy theory you want to share? Maybe a link?

Amsterdam's issues are not unlike those of other cities in the world. There is a new platform coming to Amsterdam (from Italy) and a few other cities that you might prefer called Fairbnb. They will try to guarantee that hosts can only offer one property and they will share their profits to help with neighborhood issues that are at the root of many housing ills there.

No, honestly, they're not, whitehall. And that's because of the housing policies and strong, but demolished rent controlled sector. FairBnB is yet another way of exploitation with an "acceptable social face". But it doesn't solve any of the issues (also it has no critical mass, so it won't fly)