Shame that local councils are once again meddling in things they have no business being in.
https://nltimes.nl/2016/10/13/amsterdam-center-overrun-touri...
https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/amsterdam-is...
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/01/amsterdam-house-prices...
I'm no expert on Amsterdam, but checking your last article mentions rent control; why would property developers bother building new housing when the returns are artificially deflated by government action? This is precisely the problem with regulations, they damage price signals. It would not at all surprise me if the government is in part causing all of these problems.
I will also note that housing being expensive in a large, popular city is basically the case the world over, and I suspect tourists are just an easy scapegoat to deflect blame from policy failure.
Because it sucks and nothing should be included in it.
There was a policy failure, in allowing Airbnb to run huge unlicensed hotel business.
This policy is addressing that. They didn't stop Airbnb from operating, they just made sure that they operate more in line like other hotels.
This will in turn enable them to make sure that the tourist flow is sustainable, by raising or lowering tourist taxes on such rentals.
So when the Taiwan border opened by 3 weeks before I was due to go to the serviced apartment, I couldn't cancel without losing 100% of the money as the 'new' cancellation policy was 100% non-refundable.
Contacting Airbnb they said there's a different policy if the booking is for more than 28 days, and so it's up to the host, so in the end the host reluctantly agreed to a 75% refund.
I could have paid 10% extra on Agoda for the same serviced apartment, and cancelled 24 hours before checking in and got 100% refund.
Airbnb letting hosts dictate cancellation policies, and not properly relaying information when paying, prevents me ever touching airbnb again.
In that process, we were expected to do (light) housework to help prepare the house for the next guests.
We did it, but it really left a negative feeling for us to have to do housework on vacation when it wasn't expected.
The owner left us a slightly negative review saying that perhaps we weren't the right kind of customers for AirBNB and that we'd be more comfortable with all the amenities of a hotel instead. True, but a nasty thing to leave in a review.
There were other problems with the house that prevented my wife from sleeping well there that the owner gave half-assed suggestions for, and left negative comments about in the review, too.
Obviously we won't be using AirBNB again and won't be recommending it.
Anyhow, with the lack of regulations, there's no guarantee that you know what you're actually signing up for on AirBNB, especially with policies stating that the cancellation policy changes to whatever the owner says. Had we known that, we probably wouldn't have stayed there at all. Luckily it didn't affect us like it did the other poster above.
During the search, it states that it’s 100% refundable upon cancellation.
Because I booked for 30 days it exceeds some apparent 28 day duration threshold where the cancellation policy is dictated by the host.
It only stated that it’s $0 refund on the cancellation screen.
So unsure how I read fine print where it’s stated1 way during booking but in reality there’s some hidden rule you find out when you cancel.
I am telling you this because I want you to know that i have as close of an experience with local governments in regards to this subject matter as almost anyone can have.
From my experience, and the experience of my parents, uncles and grandparents i can assure you there is almost no place where you will find more corruption and needless bureaucracy as in local councils.
while there does indeed need to be some forms of regulation, say by outlining noise limits outside the properties, or by establishing emissions standards or light level restrictions, the vast, vast majority of restrictions and regulations are fundamentally senseless and exist primarily to make work for local council employees, and to enforce peoples views on what other can do with their property.
It is NIMBYism of the worst kind, and we would all be significantly better off if local councils had their powers castrated.