Sarastro

Here is a PP listing chosen at random. Paris Perfect
The registration number is located below the cost per night. Evidently only a portion of PPīs inventory is legally registered.

Firstly, itīs a registration number, not really a license. A license connotes some type of official recognition or approval.

Secondly, apartment registration is completed on line, there is no official oversight when registration numbers are issued. What registration does is gives city inspectors documentation to latter fine violators if they, for example, register apartments which they may own but do not occupy. With rare exception, only owner/occupied apartments may be legally registered yet many absentee owners have requested numbers so their apartments appear legal to rent short term.

Registration also helps visitors because unregistered apartments are certainly illegal and are rented with additional risks.

Ian Broussant who works at city hall has stated that only booking.com and another platform restrict their listings to those with registered apartments. He estimates that approximately 20,000 of the over 50,000 apartments on Airbnb have registration numbers. Clearly, most Airbnb apartments are indeed illegal but Airbnb is certainly not the only platform listing unregistered apartments, itīs just the biggest.

progol

<<Here is a PP listing chosen at random. Paris Perfect
The registration number is located below the cost per night. Evidently only a portion of PPīs inventory is legally registered.>>
And of the first 10 apartments on the 1-bedroom list that I looked at, not one was registered.

And I'm sorry if I used the word, "licensed" instead of "registered". My mistake. But I'm sure you know what I meant. But for whatever reasons an apartment is registered, many of the rental agencies are clearly not keeping up with the law, either. And, ParisPerfect has few registered apartments that I see. There are some, but most are not.

ribeirasacra

From the link you provided in this discussion-
Vacation apartment registration begins in Paris 1 Oct
It states that the idea of a registration number is for Paris to regulate the rental of furnished apartments. Thus Paris officially reorganise the ability for the property to be rented out to vacationers rather than long term rents to the populace.
More information from AirBnB.
https://www.airbnbcitizen.com/regist...-need-to-know/

thursdaysd

Agreed. I find AirBnB's fees very high. When you add them in the listings are really not such a good deal as they may appear at first sight. I was recently looking for a place to stay in Bath, UK, on short notice. I wound up booking an apartment through booking.com. It was halfway between the station and the main sights, a much better location than anything on AirBnB. It was in an "apartment hotel", intended for business people in town for a week or two, and had everything you possibly want including front desk staff. The AirBnB listings weren't much cheaper even before the fees. Another consideration for me these days is that I need an elevator rather than stairs. One AirBnB I stayed in was up 68 stairs, but even a dozen or so are a problem right now.

Sarastro

I am not sure what this means or what the point is.

Owner/occupants may absolutely rent their apartments to vacationers as long as the total nights rented does not exceed 120 annually. Itīs been this way for years and has never changed.

ribeirasacra

Not changed? I feel it has one now needs to apply for Paris government recognition and once you have that agreement you can them publish that number on any advertisement. That in turn makes you legal in the eyes of the punter.

ssander

ribeirasacra...

Thanks for the questions...it motivated me to get the details by looking at the old communications. I did make two errors: Timeline was off a bit and the credit was only for $50.

Here are the answers to your questions:

They (Airbnb) can say what they want. No proof of if anything has been undertaken.

How much was the booking worth and how much was lost by you

How quick did take the website to respond?

How long before you got you credit?

Was that to only be spent on another listing on Airbnb?

Was there a time or location limit given to your credit?

How long before you was due to stay was the cancellation notice given to you?

This is a reconstruction after looking at the emails/documents:

• January 26, 2014 - Booking made. Booking was for March 7-16.
• January 27 - Owner phoned us and tried to switch us -- I see I mis-stated when she called in my post.
• We called AirBnB immediately.
• January 29 - We booked a new place, and the $50 credit was included in the confirmation email...two days after we phoned AirBnB.

Hope this clears up our experience. As I said, we found AirBnB extremely cooperative. Perhaps, it was the fact that we phoned them rather than try to get it fixed through online communication.

ssander

MmePerdu

In my experience, “bonus” credits given by Airbnb are to be used within a year and for any location, no limit. I just returned from Chiapas, Mexico and used a $100 credit they’d given me, just because they like me.

Peter_S_Aus

Chose an apartment in Venice via AirbNB. No issues, apartment was as advertised, and worked well for me.
Next visit, two years later, “how about cash when I arrive”. No issues.

No issues, no Air BnB involvement either. Worked well for me. And the owner also, I assume. City tax was paid on a separate bill.

ssander

We also used AirBnB in Venice with a great two-bedroom two-bathroom apartment in a great location cheaper than a comparable hotel double room. ( With two large bedrooms and two bathrooms, we tried to convince our son and his wife to join us but they couldn't get away. It would have cost less than half the cost of two hotel doubles.)

The only drawback: we arrived late-morning from the airport and had to drag our two carry-ons around till check-in at 2 pm.. Wrecked the wheels on one of them -- Venice "streets" can be pretty rough -- and had to buy a new one for about 45€. Obviously that would not have happened at a hotel.

ssander

ssander

Peter S Aus...

We also have gone directly to the host...but ONLY after two AirBnB rentals and after developing a friendly relationship with him -- he lived next door to the rental unit and only a couple of blocks from our son's home which we were visiting. He trusted us to pay him on arrival...not in advance...similar to your experience in Venice.

My own advice to others is always go through AirBnB except in extraordinary circumstances.

ssander

ribeirasacra

Thank you for the very detailed report I do hope that other members find it of use.
A property owner should know that several portals and websites can link and synchronise a properties to just one reservation calender . Not that that concerns you as a guest.

Christina

The higher costs to list on Booking can be justified as you the customer do not pay anything. Why should the customer pay to towards advertising costs? I cannot think of another business model where you the customer pays for part or these costs.>>

Surely you are joking. Who do you think pays for advertising costs of a business? The customer ALWAYS pays, they are part of business expenses the same as salaries, rent, etc. That's the whole concept of what a business is, revenues cover costs and supposedly leave some profit for the owner(s).

5alive

Airbnb adds a separate fee to the consumer after you've opened the listing.

Booking.com does not. So you open the page and it's more clear what you, the consumer, will be paying.

Of course, someone is paying for the infrastructure--database/computer support, advertising, etc. I believe what the others are saying is that booking.com is charging the homeowners more of these expenses.

Mishaa

I both use airbnb as a traveler and rent a room in my house to other travelers. Never had a bad experience on either side of that coin.
in my town, (Berkeley Ca) airbnbs are heavily regulated. We can't have guests for longer than 14 days each. We pay transient occupancy taxes to the city, we cannot rent out whole units that could otherwise be part of the cities housing stock.

As a traveler, I only stay with "superhosts" and I only stay in rooms in people's houses, rooms that would not otherwise be in the rental market. I love meeting local people. I love NOT staying in hotels. I've great experiences as a guest in Amsterdam, Auckland, Boston, and Sydney. Planning to stay at airbnb school in Croatia and Italy this summer.

whitehall

The last airbnb thread here got a "neighbor" of yours in San Diego all hot and bothered about the "evils" of this highly successful company. And, despite her protests and denials, it looks like San Diego is getting closer to compromising on a way to allow and regulate a reasonable amount of short term vacation stays. We also have had fabulous results with dozens of airbnb rentals, mostly in Europe. A couple of San Diego County residents (Chula Vista) were featured on the news today for moving to hotels on week-ends and earning enough money to pay off their mortgage. https://www.10news.com/news/making-i...through-airbnb