[Cthulhu_]

Providing a service without following the laws. In this case, a hotel booking site without hotels.

It's like uber, a taxi service without drivers/cars.

[sumedh]

> In this case, a hotel booking site without hotels.

It did not start out as a hotel booking service though.

[jacquesm]

How it started out is irrelevant, how it is today is what matters.

[dorchadas]

And didn't AirBnB start out in dubious circumstances too? I seem to recall reading something about it, but can't find it now.

[jacquesm]

https://davegooden.com/2011/05/how-airbnb-became-a-billion-d...

[sumedh]

Sometimes you need to break some laws to make progress that does not make it a scam. Sometimes the existing laws hurt consumers breaking such laws is good not bad.

[Macha]

This kind of thinking is less well received in Europe, which is why e.g. so many cities banned uber and only let them back in as a registered taxi app to contact registered taxi drivers charging regulated taxi prices, while a lot of US cities turned a blind eye.

Those same regulations also kept a higher floor of taxi quality, which helped avoid the stereotype that exists in the US of "regular taxis are always dirty and late", so there wasn't consumer outcry for their return like US cities which had tried banning them.

[unionpivo]

Expect if I did it I would have huge penalties and real possibility of jail time for repeat offences

But because its USA megacorp it takes years before it gets slap on a wrist.