[Daho0n]

It's because Airbnb (ab)use the same kind of hole in the law as Uber does. Hotels have to follow more rules and can't build a room in random buildings that happen to be available but build lots of rooms in huge buildings. The problem isn't hotels but that Airbnb isn't seen as hotels as they should be. Luckily some cities are waking up and stopping the abuse.

[high_derivative]

I don't know why you are getting downvoted for this. AirBnb's valuation is basically extracted from society by pocketing the difference to anyone needing to follow regulations.

AirBnB does not create value, it extracts it from communities. It's not the kind of startup anyone should be cheering on

[ErikVandeWater]

I agree that Airbnb is technically breaking the law with almost every rental, but increasing the supply of housing is a MAJOR benefit to society. Zoning laws and business building codes are completely unreasonable in most cases.

[vidarh]

Increasing the supply of housing would be a major benefit, but Airbnb does not increase the supply of housing.

Unfortunately a lot of interests are also aligned against increasing the supply of housing, because steadily rising house prices ironically reduces the incentive to build (no rush to build if your return from sitting on the land until a suitable amount of time before you want to exit can get you the same ROI), while a lot of home owners don't get that it is often in their interest too to see prices slowly and steadily drop rather than increase (most of us would love to be able to trade up, and so would benefit from prices dropping at a rate similar to typical mortgage repayment, but a lot of people see their house as an investment and get excited when it goes up - for my part I look at the houses that were GBP 400k when my house was 200k, which are now 800k while my house is 400k, and wish the prices had halved instead of doubled).

[ErikVandeWater]

It does increase the supply of housing though. Housing that would otherwise could/would not be occupied is now available for rent.

[vidarh]

What makes you think these properties could and would not be occupied? They often displace long term rental. And short term rental as an AirBnb is not 'housing' in the ordinary sense - nobody makes it their main residence.

[matkoniecz]

> increasing the supply of housing is a MAJOR benefit to society

Airbnb is doing opposite, it displaces long-term rental by converting flats/apartments into hotels.