Airbnb, rivals may face challenges over rentals

sfgate.com

11 points·pyoung··4 comments

Sometimes it boggles the mind how far the land of the free and the home of the brave has come. As soon as a more efficient system for temporarily renting rooms is created, the various actors benefiting from the way things already are start lobbying the state to intervene. I believe a Canadian, Trudeau, put it best: there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation. ;-)

On the other hand, as a resident I don't necessarily want my next door neighbor's apartment hosting a daily revolving cast of total strangers.

Efficient? Perhaps.

Safer and more reliable? Remains to be seen.

But you don't get something for nothing and the usual decrease in cost comes at a price. As a customer of Airbnb I am extremely aware I taking a greater chance using it than booking myself into a hotel. The likelihood of being robbed, scammed, having a lousy time etc is arguably higher. My home city, Melbourne Australia, has seen its fair share of scandals involving apartments being used as backpacker hostels. Cramming several people per room into cheap apartments is a recipe for among other things fiery death.

The laws should be changed to allow Airbnb to operate, but at the same time provide protection to everyone involved.

Safer and more reliable will come with more data points (nights stayed, reviews, friend referrals, friend testimonials). Protection already exists for being robbed; the (increasing) strength of the recommendations protects getting scammed; having a lousy time is always a risk.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com