[fxtentacle]

Before there was Airbnb, some people actually borrowed out their basement or spare room for free. It was called CouchSurfing and popular with students. At first, Airbnb was pretty similar and actually felt like sharing plus a small food donation. At one of my first Airbnb locations, I took turns with my hosts at cleaning and cooking...

Nowadays, all that good will and belief in helping out others has been replaced by an impersonal financial transaction. Surely, that has changed how the "guest" and the "host" interact with each other, and not in a good way. The "guest" is now a customer of paid services and gets treated accordingly.

I believe short term rentals should be organized by a government agency. That way, all the profits can be reinvested into the housing market instead of being siphoned into a tax haven by Airbnb.