Airbnb has been encouraging people who let their apartment through Airbnb to organise themselves into local ”homesharing clubs”. One main motivation behind this is to fight the increasingly strict regulations set by cities on renting apartments through Airbnb and similar services.
Why is this important?
While Airbnb is especially challenging the hotel industry, perhaps the main motivation for cities to restrict the service is the consequent rise in rental prices in downtown areas as well as losing control on the inflow of tourism. Airbnb has fought against regulations before, but the homesharing clubs are a different strategy, as they engage the local hosts to lobby for more favourable regulation. This is different from the attempts by some Uber drivers to unionize themselves, as this is driven by the platform owner, Airbnb, itself.
Things to keep an eye on
The problems with homesharing are systemic in nature and thus difficult to solve. Letting one’s apartment can provide additional income, but it can also lead to rising rental prices overall. Homesharing clubs and local organisation in general is a good idea, but the key question is whose interests the clubs represent: the platform owner’s, the hosts’ or the community in general? How this tension plays out indicates where the platform economy is heading in different regions: to delaying the inevitable, towards winner-takes-all markets, to locally and communally owned platforms, towards platforms as commons or to some other direction.
Selected articles and websites
Airbnb faces worldwide opposition. It plans a movement to rise up in its defence
Bringing People and Places to the Table
Airbnb hosts protest new rental law outside New York governor’s office