The Real Problem With Airbnb

Airbnb and like home sharing platforms have been a disruptor for the hotel industry. While hotel performance is strong in the current economic climate, hoteliers are concerned about the impact of home-sharing platforms in the future. However, it isn’t home sharing that is a problem, according to experts at ALIS. Rather, the problem is full-time operators that are using home-sharing sites to operate small bed-and-breakfasts or inns.

“Room sharing is not an issue in this industry,” Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of AHLA, said on the Dealing With the new Normal Panel at ALIS this week. “People want to rent a room in their home or even occasionally rent out their home has been going on for decades. That is nothing new. Unfortunately, that is not what we see with companies like Airbnb and others, where increasingly the dominate part of their revenue is from full-time operators renting multiple units 365-days a year. To that, we say welcome; here is what that business looks like.”

In the US, hotel industry leaders are working to hold these operators accountable, and Lugar says that they are making strides. “We are working in cities and states across the country to make sure the government isn’t in the business of picking winners and losers,” she explained on the panel. “If you run a small bed and breakfast or a small inn, we want to make sure that you have the same obligations. That goes to zoning, protecting neighborhoods, preserving affordable housing supply and not disrupting that and fair collection of taxation. This is just getting the rules on a level playing field for those that are running full-time businesses.”