My 19-year-old son Calixto has just bought a flat in Cordoba, where one of the rules of the block is “No Temporary Lets”.
This seems like a sensible way to tackle the housing shortage, and reduce inequalities in a world where some people can buy a string of investment properties while others scrimp and save even to get onto the housing ladder.
Companies like the dominant Air bnb are blamed for driving up rents, as so many property owners decide to gamble on the temporary rental market rather than letting long-term: although that’s often an oversimplified argument, as this excellent article points out.
Hotels also complain that online letting creates an unequal playing field, as they have to jump through the hoops of local regulators, while Air B&B hosts just pocket the profits.
Now the government of Buenos Aires is the latest local authority in big cities around the world to tackle the thorny issue of unregistered accommodation.
It’s prompted by the fact that only 1,000 out of an estimated 20,000 are actually registered: with all the concomitant safety checks and tax.
People offering temporary residency have 180 days to list their property: those not registered will no longer be able to legally lease out their home(s), and could face fines of a million pesos (approx US$830).
Of course, the devil is in the detail, and laws are entirely useless unless they’re enforced.
My son tells me there is a “No Pets” policy in his block of flats, but he’s seen plenty of cats.
But Buenos Aires is following the lead of many other cities around the world, including New York, Paris and Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, last year, the European Union introduced legislation requiring apps like Air B&B and Uber to charge VAT, where it is paid by hotels and licensed taxis, though whether this will have any impact whatsoever is questionable, as this won’t come into effect until 2030!
Even among users of Air B&B, there is griping about the fact the multi-billion dollar company takes no responsibility for any problems over bookings made on its website, prompting the creation of this website: Air B&B Hell.
It’s difficult to feel too sorry for a company which is reported to have pocketed US$11 billion in 2024.
But having worked in tourism for more than 17 years I can see the argument from both sides.
Air B&B founders Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky came up with the idea in 2007; the following year when I arrived to live in Salta, a friend mentioned this new website to me as somewhere to list our new home, but it didn’t seem appropriate for a fledging posada.
While my wife Alicia were operating a B&B and setting up a small travel agency in Argentina specialising in tailor-made tours with English-speaking guides, this pair of entrepreneurs was masterminding a multi-billion dollar empire (but I’m not bitter).
Their origin story tells us they charged three people US$80 each to sleep on airbeds in their San Francisco apartment one night, when every hotel room in the city was taken. (US$80 seems pretty steep to sleep on the floor, but I guess that’s why they’re billionaires and I’m not!)
Now Airbnb has more than seven million active listings in over 220 countries. There are over 100,000 cities and towns and four million hosts on the Airbnb platform.
It is estimated to have over 150 million users. To put it another way, every second, five guests are checking into an Airbnb somewhere in the world. Think about that for a second or two…
As usual, with tough new regulation of Air B&B and other web-based person to person services, it’s the little people who will suffer: those trying to make a few extra pennies occasionally letting out a spare room rather than Hoogstraten style property barons who will just flip their multiple properties onto the next money-making scheme.
The world wide web created by Tim Berners-Lee has become dominated by the big operators who pop up first on a google search: but scroll down a few pages and you will come across some more interesting options like Fair B&B.
This company started in Italy splits your payment to a social project in the city where you book: with only two listings currently in London, it’s fair to say it’s at a nascent stage, but you can sign up on behalf of where you live and set a local project up.
- I recommend a house swap website which perhaps captures the original spirit of Air B&B: Home Exchange. Full disclosure: we’re members.
- Inside Air B&B shows the changing faces of the cities which are being taken over by temporary accommodation.
