[_delirium]

I'd be curious if it's really an unprecedented magnitude (not impossible that it is, but I haven't seen numbers). For lodging, for example, it'd be interesting if someone could estimate at least approximate numbers for what proportion of the paid travel-lodging market was served by formal hotels vs. informal lodging arrangements in various cities over the decades. From what I've read of New York City (but no numbers), there has been a pretty wide array of lodging besides "proper" hotels in various periods, ranging from families running a few spare rooms as a boarding-house business, to large-scale "flophouse" operations. And, like today, it has been a political issue and led to debate over regulations periodically.