Interesting article RE: AirBnB and Barcelona | Syracusefan.com

Interesting article RE: AirBnB and Barcelona

We did VRBO for San Diego and London. It was great.
Also, we did a hostel in Manchester. Fantastic. 25 pounds per person, per night.
 
I generally do AirBnb when i travel. Have done it in Italy and London and pretty much all over in the USA. Generally have had positive experiences. I would say the Catalans are a proud people and I see why they are fed up with the tourists moving closer to what used to be quieter areas.
 
My bride loves this city and has been four times now. Interesting piece on how travel and the hosting business has changed that city.


The Airbnb Invasion of Barcelona

Have been using airbnb for years but it really does destroy some places. Housing in New Orleans for example is an absolute mess because of it.
 
I avoid it for this reason. It doesn't solve the tourist problem -- or the housing problem, look what New York's been doing for the last decade, tearing down apartment buildings and developing generic mid-market hotels -- but in general I think the regulatory structures are better equipped to deal with hotels' externalities than they are in combating visitors' encroachment on residential buildings.
 
I avoid it for this reason. It doesn't solve the tourist problem -- or the housing problem, look what New York's been doing for the last decade, tearing down apartment buildings and developing generic mid-market hotels -- but in general I think the regulatory structures are better equipped to deal with hotels' externalities than they are in combating visitors' encroachment on residential buildings.

If you live in cities you see how awful it is - you witness the stupidly high rents, the frustration amongst friends, families, and you hear the talk at work...it's tough. AirBnB really exacerbates the problem. I have friends in Toronto that say it's overwhelming that city - and rents their are already stupidly high. I'm not sure how most Canadians can afford to live here.

It was a nice idea, and likely functions quite well still in smaller areas, but it has become a plague on tourist destinations and it really does hurt certain places tremendously. You see higher rents in areas that already have a housing crisis, and just generally a ruination of what made some of these cities so great. I don't know. I find it all rather sad.

And, like everything else, I blame people from the suburbs. :) They're oblivious jerks...the same dolts that take cruises instead of real vacations. I remember going to Croatia and the terror of the cruise ship arrivals. The Walking Dead descending upon land without any plans of buying anything, just walk around and torturing everyone while waiting for their cow bell to sound so they know when to return to their ship. Blah. I've heard it's quite the same in Italy, etc...
 
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If you live in cities you see how awful it is - you witness the stupidly high rents, the frustration amongst friends, families, and you hear the talk at work...it's tough. AirBnB really exacerbates the problem. I have friends in Toronto that say it's overwhelming that city - and rents their are already stupidly high. I'm not sure how most Canadians can afford to live here.

It was a nice idea, and likely functions quite well still in smaller areas, but it has become a plague on tourist destinations and it really does hurt certain places tremendously. You see higher rents in areas that already have a housing crisis, and just generally a ruination of what made some of these cities so great. I don't know. I find it all rather sad.

And, like everything else, I blame people from the suburbs. :) They're oblivious jerks...the same dolts that take cruises instead of real vacations. I remember going to Croatia and the terror of the cruise ship arrivals. The Walking Dead descending upon land without any plans of buying anything, just walk around and torturing everyone while waiting for their cow bell to sound so they know when to return to their ship. Blah. I've heard it's quite the same in Italy, etc...

Cruise people and no kid Disney people are very weird to me.
 
This was a really interesting read. I stayed at an AirBnB in Barcelona 2 years ago and didn't really think about the impact that AirBnB must be having in places like this. I kinda assumed that a city like Barcelona always had these tourists there and AirBnB was simply dispersing them around more; which it seems like it's more or less true but still missing the point of the residents' complaints.

One thing that jumped out at me is that AirBnB's review system as a means of keeping guests and hosts on their best behavior is missing out on what the complaints are really about. Like those people that drunkenly stripped down and went streaking...they probably wouldn't receive a negative review on AirBnB unless they trashed the place they were staying in; the reviews have nothing to do with behavior outside of the home.

My girlfriend and I use AirBnB basically anytime we travel now, but we're at least closer to utilizing it the way it was originally intended; we'll go see some of the tourist sights but beyond that, we just want to relax, try some local foods, and learn more about different places.

It really sucks to hear how it drives up rent for local residents though; I'd love to live in some of these cities that I've visited someday.
 
I was just in Barcelona in late February. There was some conference and hotel prices were outrageous ($1000/night for a basic room at the W) so my friends and I did an AirBnB.

I'll never do that again. I hated everything about it aside from the fact that I'm against because of how bad it is for rent and also hurting hotels. At least in NY the hotel industry is unionized and.proves an entry into the middle class for a lot of unskilled or semiskilled workers. I hate to think of hurting them.
 

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