http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhGiWyyDtvwFrom Berlin to Barcelona; will Airbnb ruin our most loved cities?
Guardian - By Jamie Doward, Jun 26, 2016
The accommodation website has become so successful that hotels are losing business and tourist sites face being ruinedTo use the industry jargon, it is the ultimate “disruptor”. Airbnb, the website that allows homeowners around the world to rent out their spare rooms, has had a seismic impact on the travel market.
Hotel chains are reportedly feeling the squeeze as the US upstart – which has attracted $2bn in funding in less than a decade – eats into their business model by offering travellers the opportunity to “live like a local” and “belong anywhere” in one of the two million rooms and properties that are listed on its site.
The savvy exhortations, which feature in slick adverts on bus stops and billboards across the world’s cities, have helped Airbnb expand at a seemingly relentless pace. Already operating in 191 countries and 34,000 cities, analysts at financial services company Cowen & Co predict that, by 2020, Airbnb hosts will be taking 500 million bookings a night, rising to a staggering one billion by 2025.
It is a truly global phenomenon. Yet, just as Uber’s attempts to shake up the taxi market has met resistance, Airbnb finds itself a victim of its own success as cities and countries wake up to the fact that the cute new kid on the block has been transformed into an 800lb gorilla.
The latest salvo was fired last week when Mark Tanzer, chief executive of the Association of British Travel Agents, warned that the popularity of companies such as Airbnb was leading to such an influx of visitors that there was a danger that some of Europe’s most attractive historic cities would be ruined. “If they can’t get around the city you are going to lose value from tourism, even if the numbers are going up,” he said. “Overcrowding in key destinations is becoming a pressing issue. Without controls, we know tourism can kill tourism.”
In the UK, more than three million people have used the site, while 52,500 people have opened their homes to strangers. A typical host can expect to earn £2,000 in return for renting out a room for 46 nights a year.
snip
Earlier this month, it released data showing that since it began it has collected $85m in tax revenue for cities worldwide. Late last year, it unveiled its Community Compact, a series of pledges to “treat cities individually, help our community pay its fair share of tourist and hotel taxes, build an open and transparent home sharing community and promote responsible home sharing to help make cities stronger”.
The initiative came ahead of a sensitive time: Wall Street expects Airbnb to float on the stock market this year, a move that could see it valued at almost $26bn.
But not all governments and authorities buy into the home-sharing concept. San Francisco has passed a law that permits hosts to rent out properties for only up to 90 days a year. Berlin prohibits users from renting out entire properties, while Iceland has proposed rules that will force some home sharers to register as businesses.
Now, in what could prove the most significant threat to Airbnb’s business model to date, the New York state senate and assembly has just unveiled laws that would bar New Yorkers from advertising their homes on its platform.
“If it becomes law, this legislation would threaten thousands of low- and middle-income New Yorkers with fines of up to $7,500 simply for listing that they would like to share their homes,” Airbnb fumed.
Given that it is a fledgling company yet to establish its bona fides, analysts suggest resistance is only to be expected. But, some day soon, Airbnb may have to face up to who is benefiting from its seemingly relentless expansion.
“There are people who do it just for business,” said Florio. “They buy three or four flats in the city and it’s too much.” Such people, he suggested, were damaging the complexion of historic city centres. “These people don’t care about Florentians, just about tourists.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/25/from-berlin-to-barcelona-will-airbnb-ruin-our-most-loved-citieshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AtjOKph7-kAirbnb is an online rental service that enables people to list, find, and rent vacation homes. It is an online marketplace for vacation rentals that charges a fee for connecting users with property to rent with users looking to rent the property. It has over 1,500,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries. Founded in August 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, the company is privately owned and operated.
Shortly after moving to San Francisco in October 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia created the initial concept for AirBed & Breakfast during the Industrial Design Conference held by Industrial Designers Society of America. The original site offered short-term living quarters, breakfast, and a unique business networking opportunity for attendees who were unable to book a hotel in the saturated market.
At the time, roommates Chesky and Gebbia could not afford the rent for their loft in San Francisco. They made their living room into a bed and breakfast, accommodating three guests on air mattresses and providing homemade breakfast.
In February 2008, technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk joined as the third co-founder of AirBed & Breakfast. During the company's initial stages, the founders focused on high-profile events where alternative lodging was scarce. The site Airbedandbreakfast.com officially launched on August 11, 2008.
To help fund the site, the founders created special edition breakfast cereals, with presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as the inspiration for "Obama O's" and "Cap'n McCains". In two months, 800 boxes of cereal were sold at $40 each, which generated more than $30,000 for the company's incubation and attracted Y Combinator's Paul Graham.
After its inauguration, the site expanded to include properties in the market between hotels and CouchSurfing. In January 2009, Y Combinator invited Chesky, Gebbia and Blecharczyk to join the incubator's winter session for three months of training. With the website already built, they used the $20,000 Y-Combinator investment to fly to New York to meet users and promote the site. They returned to San Francisco with a profitable business model to present to West Coast investors.
In March 2009, the name Airbedandbreakfast.com was shortened to Airbnb.com, and the site's content had expanded from air beds and shared spaces to a variety of properties including entire homes and apartments, private rooms, castles, boats, manors, tree houses, tipis, igloos, private islands and other properties.
One year later, there were 15 people working from Chesky and Gebbia's loft apartment on Rausch Street in San Francisco. To make room for employees, Brian Chesky gave up his bedroom and lived through the Airbnb service until the company moved into its first office space.
The company continued to experience rapid growth through the year and in November 2010 raised $7.2 million in Series A funding from Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital, and announced that out of 700,000 nights booked, 80% had occurred in the past six months.
In February 2011, Airbnb announced its 1 millionth booking since its inception in August 2008. Then, in January 2012, Airbnb announced its 5 millionth night booked internationally through the service. In June 2012, the company announced 10 million nights booked, doubling business in 5 months. Of these bookings, 75% of the business came from markets outside of the continental United States.
On May 25, 2011, actor and partner at A-Grade Investments Ashton Kutcher announced a significant investment in the company and his role as a strategic brand advisor for the company.
By October 2013, Airbnb had served nine million guests since its founding in August 2008. In December 2013, the company reported it had over six million new guests in 2013, and nearly 250,000 properties were added in 2013.
In July 2014, Airbnb revealed design revisions to their site and mobile app and introduced a new logo. Some considered the new icon to be visually similar to genitalia, but a consumer survey by Survata showed only a minority of respondents thought this was the case.
In June 2015, Airbnb decided to sponsor Manor F1 Team. Their logo appeared on the cars on the front nose and on other areas. it also appeared on team wear and the drivers overalls.
In October 2015, Jersey City, New Jersey became the first city in the New York metropolitan area to legalize Airbnb, and add it to their existing body of hotels and motels that pay taxes. In the past, businesses were regulated by zoning laws, but Mayor Steven Fulop stated that the city does not have enough inspectors to deal the number of local units being rented out, approximately 300 of which rented through the service as of that date, and that rapid-evolving technology such as Airbnb made doing so impossible.
Under the new legislation, Airbnb pays the city 6 percent hotel tax on the residential properties whose owners rent temporary living space to tourists for under 30 days, which is estimated to bring $1 million in revenue to the city, and expand tourist capacity beyond the city's 13 existing hotels. Airbnb will also provide insurance protection to homeowners in the event damage done to their residence by renters. The new laws will not prevent condominium associations from voting to prohibit use of Airbnb in their buildings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yfXzD7tnbMInternational expansion
In May 2011, Airbnb acquired a German competitor, Accoleo. This acquisition launched the first international Airbnb office in Hamburg. Then, in October 2011, Airbnb established its second international office in London.
Given the growth of international users, Airbnb opened 6 additional international offices in early 2012. These cities include Paris, Milan, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Moscow, and São Paulo.[34] These are in addition to existing offices in San Francisco, London, Hamburg, and Berlin where Airbnb maintains its international presence for the EMEA markets within a German incubator space. Airbnb announced in September 2013 that its European headquarters would be located in Dublin.
At the beginning of November 2012, Chesky announced his focus on Australia, the second largest Airbnb market behind the United States, as well as Thailand and Indonesia. To support this effort, Airbnb opened its 11th office in Sydney. The Australian consumer accounts for one-tenth of the Airbnb user base.
Weeks after announcing the focus on Australia, Airbnb announced its strategy to move more aggressively into the Asian market with the launch of their newest headquarters in Singapore. The company's goal is to acquire an additional 2 million properties within the continent.
Following the Obama administration's easing of restrictions on U.S. businesses to operate in Cuba, Airbnb expanded to Cuba in April 2015, making it one of the first U.S. companies to do so.
The Airbnb founding team acts as the key managerial staff for Airbnb: Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; Joe Gebbia, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer; and Nathan Blecharczyk, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer.
In 2016, Airbnb has its nineteen offices in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), Berlin (Germany), Beijing (China), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dublin (Ireland), London (UK), Miami (Florida, USA), Milan (Italy), Moscow (Russia), New Delhi (India), Paris (France), Portland (Oregon, USA), San Francisco (California, USA), São Paulo (Brazil), Seoul (South Korea), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Tokyo (Japan), and Toronto (Canada).
Airbnb's primary source of revenue comes from service fees from bookings.[44] Fees range between 6% and 12% depending on the price of the booking. Airbnb also charges the host 3% from each guest booking for credit card processing.
In March 2014, the company announced plans to open a new "operational headquarters" for North America in Portland, Oregon but indicated that its main North American headquarters would remain in San Francisco.
Funding
As of July 2011, the company had raised US$119.8 million in venture funding from Y Combinator, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Sky Technologies, General Catalyst Partners and undisclosed amounts from Youniversity Ventures partners Jawed Karim, Keith Rabois, and Kevin Hartz, and from A Grade Investments partners Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary.
In April 2014, the company closed on an investment of $450 million by TPG Capital at a valuation of approximately $10 billion.
As of March 2015, Airbnb is raising a new round of funding that will place the company at a $20 billion valuation.
In 2015, Airbnb raised $1.5 billion in funding led by growth equity firm General Atlantic, and joined by Hillhouse Capital Group, Tiger Global Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, China Broadband Capital, and Horizon Ventures.
Mergers and acquisitions
Since mid-2011, Airbnb has acquired several of its competitors. The first acquisition was Accoleo based out of Hamburg, which became the company's first international office.
Prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics, Airbnb acquired London-based rival CrashPadder, subsequently adding six thousand international listings to its existing inventory. This acquisition made Airbnb the largest peer-to-peer accommodations website in the United Kingdom.
In November 2012, Airbnb acquired NabeWise, a city guide that aggregates curated information for specified locations. This acquisition shifted the company focus toward offering hyperlocal recommendations to travelers.
In December 2012, Airbnb announced the acquisition of Localmind. Localmind is a location-based question and answer platform that allows users to post questions about specific locations online. These questions are then answered in real-time by experts on the specified territories.
Business model
Airbnb is a peer-to-peer accommodation market place that connects hosts (vendors of rooms/accommodations) and travelers via its website. Airbnb enables transactions between these two entities by charging a 'service fee' without directly owning any rooms by itself. This new business model disrupt traditional industries by creating new sources of supply and rely on curation for developing quality and self-attainment of maturity from the vendors, or the people operating on behalf of vendors. Security and safety of the accommodation is not always vetted by Airbnb and are completely left to travelers to choose based on published reviews. Unlike traditional hotels, Airbnb scales not by scaling inventory but by increasing the hosts and travelers and matching them with each other.
Operations
Airbnb is an online marketplace for vacation rentals that connects users with property to rent with users looking to rent the space. Users are categorized as "Hosts" and "Guests," both of whom must register with Airbnb using a variety of means. A valid email address and valid telephone were initially the only requirements to build a unique user profile on the website, however as of April 2013, a scan of a government issued ID is now required.
Profiles include details such as user reviews and shared social connections to build a reputation and trust among users of the marketplace. Other elements of the Airbnb profile include user recommendations and a private messaging system.
In addition to providing personal information, hosts display listing details including price, amenities, house rules, imagery, and detailed information about their neighborhood. Due to the nature of the business, a merit system is in place to allow guests and hosts to leave references and ratings which are displayed to the public in order to provide an evaluation method.
Since 2008, the website has developed to include social connections pulling data from social networking services such as Facebook. As of May 2011, the site uncovered over 300 million connections between Airbnb and the Facebook user groups.
Signup and reservations
Users of the site must register and create a personal online profile before using the site. Every property is associated with a host whose profile includes recommendations by other users, reviews by previous guests, as well as a response rating and private messaging system.
The listing will not go live until the user is ready to publish. Pricing can be determined by the user. Users can charge different prices for nightly, weekly, and monthly stays as well as seasonal pricing. The Titles and Descriptions sections can be used to advertise their space. They can outline house rules or other descriptions regarding the residence.
Airbnb allows users to publish up to 24 photographs of the place. For eligible hosts, Airbnb offers free professional photography in most of the listed areas. The beautiful photography is one of the hallmarks of the Airbnb website and app. Profile is a place where the guests can research more about the hosts and is used by hosts to display who they are as well as their philosophies on hosting.
Guests are required to message the user directly through Airbnb to ask questions regarding the property. Users have 100% control over who books their place. When a potential guest puts in a reservation request, the host has at least 24 hours to accept or decline the request.
After the user accepts a reservation, they can coordinate meeting times and contact information with guests. After the reservation is complete, users are encouraged to leave a review. Reviews help build validity and references both for the guests and the host.
Mobile
In addition to the Airbnb website, the company offers mobile applications for iOS and Android customers; also (from September 2014) a version for the Apple Watch. These offer geolocation and much of the functionality of the website, including (which allows faster response times) private messaging.
As of September 2012, users had downloaded the mobile application over 1 million times, and bookings made via the app accounted for over 26% of the company's overall traffic. In December 2012, Apple awarded Airbnb the Editor's Choice award for the Best Mobile Application of 2012 in the UK market. Airbnb was also awarded Most Disruptive Service of 2012.
Security
Airbnb user profiles contain recommendations, reviews, and ratings to build credible online reputations within the platform. Additionally, the site provides a private messaging system as a channel for users to message one another privately before booking and accepting reservations. Hosts are never required to accept a reservation. After the guest has checked out, the parties review one another to build website credibility similar to online marketplaces like eBay.
Airbnb facilitates online payments from guest to host through its Security Payments feature which processes payment transactions 24 hours after check in. This protocol offers a guarantee for guests and helps to uphold host cancellations policies before processing payments. Additionally, the Airbnb website facilitates security deposits and cleaning fees, the former of which is held until the property is vacated. The company's revenue comes from a 6% to 12% commission of the guest payment and 3% of what the host receives.
Any Airbnb host can now require their prospective guests to obtain Verified IDs before booking. Initially trust was tit-for-tat so any host who requests this condition must also get verified. However this has been changed such that all guests must have a verified ID before booking.
Wish lists
In June 2012, Airbnb launched a wish list feature offering users the ability to create a curated catalog of desired listing they would like to visit. Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Joe Gebbia and his team conceived the idea of changing the website from an online marketplace to a source for inspiration. Users can organise their favorite destinations into organized lists and share these with other users. Since the launch of the Wish List functionality in June 2012, engagement with the Airbnb website increased by 30%. 45% of users engage with Wish Lists and had added over 1 million accommodations to personalized lists.
In creating Wish Lists, the product team designed a proprietary "info scrolling system" which allows users to engage with these lists without the website slowing down the user experience. Additionally, Airbnb open sourced the code, Infinity.js to the software developer community.
Neighborhoods
In November 2012, Airbnb launched the Neighborhoods product. This travel guide helps travelers choose to the ideal neighborhood match based on a series of collaborative filters and attributes such as Great Transit, Dining, Peace & Quiet, Nightlife, Touristy, and Shopping.Currently, the Neighborhoods product is enabled for San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Washington, D.C., and Rio de Janeiro giving in-depth information for selected neighborhoods in these cities through photos, essays, maps, tags from locals, and assessments of public transportation.
The Airbnb product team hand-mapped 300 neighborhoods within these seven cities and had local editors curate content for each neighborhood. Airbnb also added 70 street photographers who generated 40,000 photographs for the project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xegsh1CmPUCritical reception
The founders of Airbnb have been praised for tenacity and creativity by Paul Graham (co-founder of Y-Combinator, Airbnb's incubator) and The Wall Street Journal.
Airbnb has been compared to Craigslist, HomeAway, Flip Key, WorldEscape, Uproost, and Groupon, other sites that offer spur-of-the-moment rentals. Airbnb won the "breakout app" award at the 2011 South by Southwest conference. Along with Quora and Dropbox, The New York Times listed Airbnb among the next generation of multibillion-dollar start-ups. Following Airbnb, other services such as Getaround, Vayable, Guidehop, myTaskAngel and Task Rabbit launched with a similar model.
New York's state legislature passed a law in July 2010 making it illegal to rent out Class A residential space for less than 30 days. However, the bill's sponsor, State Senator Liz Krueger said Airbnb and its competitors are not the law's target.
Cultural impact
In July 2010, the company received more than 300 emails from people who were on the brink of losing their homes through foreclosure due to financial hardship from the economic recession; these people said that they depended on their continued ability to sublet rooms in their residences. Non homeowning users also frequently sublet their homes to renters for prolonged periods - often a breach of tenancy. Yet a July 2014 ruling nixed a landlord's eviction plans after his New York City tenant sublet her unit through Airbnb. The judge found that local laws prohibiting short-term sublets only apply to landlords, potentially opening the doors to many more sublets through Airbnb in the coming months and years. Though this ruling sets a pro-sublet precedent, landlords who ask tenants to stop their practices will still expect compliance.
Wealthy homeowners who may have been reluctant to rent out their properties over traditional bulletin boards or Internet sites like Craigslist, have reportedly found Airbnb to be a more reliable service for earning revenue from their second homes. This phenomenon has caused much distress for the American Hotel & Lodging Association as short-term private rentals continue to disrupt the hospitality industry. A further incentive for luxury homeowners occurred in August 2015, when Airbnb partnered with Tesla Motors to provide chargers at certain host houses, firstly in California.
In November 2012, Airbnb commissioned HR&A Advisors to conduct a study which measured the market impact of collaborative consumption by users within urban populations. Specifically, the study measured the impact these companies had on the economy of San Francisco. The study found that from April 2011 to May 2012, guests and hosts utilizing the service contributed $56 million in spending within the San Francisco economy, $43.1 million of which supported local businesses. Over 90% of hosts surveyed rented their primary residences to visitors on an occasional basis, and spent nearly half the income they make on living expenses. The study also found the average guest stay was 5.5 days, compared to 3.5 days for hotel guests, and the average guest spent $1,045 during their stay, compared to the $840 spent by hotel guests.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Airbnb partnered with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to offer free housing for persons displaced by the storm. Airbnb built a microsite for this effort alone where victims register for housing and meet property owners with free housing.[105] Additionally, Airbnb waived all service fees associated with these listings while maintaining the Host Guarantee for all properties listed.
Fair housing implications
The United States Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibits property owners, financial institutions, and landlords from discriminating based on personal attributes such as race and religion, but there is confusion as to whether someone subleasing a home is subject to these provisions. Users are encouraged to build online profiles to "build" trust, and studies have shown that (after accounting for location and housing quality) non-black hosts charge on average about 12% more than black hosts.
Incidents and host security
In response to property damages claims, Airbnb launched its "Host Guarantee" property protection program in August 2011, which covers property loss and damage due to vandalism and theft for up to $50,000. Additionally, the company initiated a 24-hour customer service hotline, established a taskforce to review suspicious activity, and implemented a suite of security features.
Airbnb recommends that hosts obtain insurance which covers damages caused by guests. Airbnb offers secondary insurance, calling it a host guarantee. Airbnb Host Guarantee provides protection of up to USD 1 million in damages to eligible property in the event of guest damages which are not resolved directly with the guests.
The countries eligible for the Host Guarantee are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There was a report of a host who rented his apartment on Airbnb and assaulted a guest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMvNG523gmsIn July 2011, there were reports of a host who had her apartment burgled and vandalized by an Airbnb guest. After 14 hours of no response from Airbnb, the company initially indicated they would not compensate the host for damages. They later reversed this decision amidst public backlash. Following the incident, more hosts came forward expressing similar experiences.
In March 2014, Ari Teman rented his apartment out through Airbnb. According to reports, under the premise of renting the apartment for the renter's relatives, it was instead rented for the purposes of a sexual orgy. Teman stated that over $87,000 in damages were caused (an amount later revised to $23,817) and that the building is considering his eviction.
Financial, tax, and legal liabilities
A 2011 New York State law prohibits renting residential units for less than 29 days, with certain exceptions. In May 2013 a New York City judge penalized Airbnb user Nigel Warren with a $2,400 fine. In April 2015, Airbnb asked the state legislature for legalization in return for the collection of hotel taxes.
In January 2014 the Federal Court of Germany ruled that a transfer of residence to tourists is not covered by a permission to sublet. In this case the tenant was previously warned by the landlords. A pending new case centers around the question if even a termination without notice is possible if no explicit permission from the landlord is obtained.
In San Francisco, Airbnb's home city, Airbnb hosting was illegal under most circumstances and Airbnb hosts had been fined by the city and received eviction notices from landlords. This situation changed in October 2014, when San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee signed a law legalizing short-term rentals in San Francisco. The law received the moniker of "Airbnb law" as Airbnb was the most affected company. The law requires renters to register as hosts with the city, carry liability insurance, and pay the city's 14 percent hotel tax.
According to a study commissioned by Airbnb itself, in fiscal year 2011-2012, Airbnb should have collected and remitted $1.9 million to the City of San Francisco, but they have yet to do so as of 2014. In 2015, the company put up a set of ads suggesting various ways the city of San Francisco could use the company’s tax payments. The ads, which were "undoubtedly aiming to drum up good will" suggested ways which the city could use the taxes it was contributing for social good. They were met with criticism, with readers calling them "tone deaf" and "passive aggressive."
Privacy and terms of use
The new identity verification system "Verified ID" (initially announced in April 2013) has been perceived by many customers as excessively intrusive. It requires three layers of customer identification: telephone, photo of ID (such as passport or driver's license), and verification of Facebook, Linkedin or Google+ account. It is impossible to use the system if one of these data is not provided.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbnbhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVEe785kfjw
