It’s interesting what the CEO of the well-known short-term rental company, Airbnb, said in a 2015 Newsweek article.
“We’re a brand where people live together. We’re not a fighting brand. We’re not a disruptor. We want to enrich cities,” said the CEO, Brian Chesky.
Daily Post editor Bill Hudson said, recently, in an editorial: “We may disagree about vaccinations and face masks. We may disagree about ‘growth’… But we almost all seem to be in agreement about the housing crisis. It’s bad.”
And in Part One of his ‘Too Many Tourists’ editorial series on Monday, Pagosa business owners and managers, expressing their concerns about too many tourists, mentioned being frustrated “with neighborhoods being transformed into vacation rental districts” and “the lack of workforce housing.”
The growing number of homes that are becoming short-term rentals (STRs) – vacation rental properties — seems to be exacerbating the housing crisis. There’s not nearly enough affordable, long-term rental housing for working people at resorts, restaurants, shops, and such.
Looking back, over the years, since he was quoted in that October 9, 2015 article, we might conclude that Mr. Chesky was right about Airbnb being “a brand where people live together.” And, perhaps, with aspirational goals in mind, he was somewhat right about wanting “to enrich cities,” although enrichment may not be happening, across the board. Especially considering the frustrated Pagosa business owners and managers mentioned in Mr. Hudson’s editorial. Their frustrations may, very well, be shared by business people, elsewhere, around the world.
Since we’re talking about short-term rentals and the STR business model, generally, we might conclude there’s a lot to unpack, the positive and negative aspects, and the gray areas in this business model. But when the Airbnb CEO said, in Businessweek, “we’re not a disruptor,” that may be questionable, considering headline news about STRs, over the years, since 2015.
The news about wild parties and trashed homes, for example.
All in all, when we’re talking about the workforce housing crisis, and STRs and too many tourists, there is, indeed, a whole lot to unpack.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.