"If Brian Chesky, cofounder and CEO at Airbnb, listened to his mom, Airbnb wouldn't exist today. Or at least according to her:
"I told him it's a bad idea. I didn't think it was going to work, and I didn't really understand it. If he listened to me, Airbnb wouldn't be here now.""
I mean, in the end, isn't it turning out to be a bad idea? Removing homes from the rental market, increasing housing prices. Encouraging more treatment of housing as an investment.
AirBnB is not the cause of housing scarcity, the under building of Hotels to meet short term stay demand, or the economic conditions that facilitate a lot of travel. If it weren't for AirBnB other players in the short term rental business would likely ave moved into the same niche.
And the price is probably a really good signal of unmet housing demand, which has (probably) caused a lot more units to be built than would have otherwise.
which has (probably) caused a lot more units to be built than would have otherwise.
You would think so, but in the US's tightest property markets its basically impossible to build new housing due to some combination of zoning, local review boards, NIMBY activists, and onerous environmental regulations (thing will this increase school demand not will it spew toxic waste).
Even if Airbnb ceases to exist tomorrow, I am fairly certain that Brian is gonna be in a better spot than he would have been in if he listened to his mom.
Not so sure. Not trying to defend Brian or AirBnB, but realistically, it was bound to happen, just like Uber was.
Perhaps under a different name with a different path, but I am fairly certain that the ending would have been the same. And there are definitely lessons to be learned form this. And honestly, it could've been much worse, so I am ok with those lessons being learner earlier rather than later. I think they were pretty useful.
Removing homes from the rental market, increasing housing prices.
Wow, I didn't know this! How are housing costs going in cities that have banned or highly regulated Airbnb, like NYC or Paris? I suppose these are highly affordable cities with falling rents?
I mean, the guy has a net worth of ~$9 Billion, so, I think it's worked out pretty well for him, you know, being squarely in the tres commas club and all.
And we can say good idea/bad idea all you'd like, that's just opinion at the end of the day, the truth is there was a market for his idea, a huge one, and the market isn't mound by any sort of moral or ethical or even logical means, so applying those things in order to support a notion of 'good' or 'bad' isn't going to yield truth by any measure.
I think what you're seeing, mostly, with short term rentals, is a lack of housing inventory being created. We've got plenty of space to build, but, for a litany of reasons, it's not being built, and in a general sense, the solution to this problem is to solve those problems that're in the way of adding inventory.
Comments
"If Brian Chesky, cofounder and CEO at Airbnb, listened to his mom, Airbnb wouldn't exist today. Or at least according to her:
I mean, in the end, isn't it turning out to be a bad idea? Removing homes from the rental market, increasing housing prices. Encouraging more treatment of housing as an investment.Sometimes, Brian, your mom is right.
AirBnB is not the cause of housing scarcity, the under building of Hotels to meet short term stay demand, or the economic conditions that facilitate a lot of travel. If it weren't for AirBnB other players in the short term rental business would likely ave moved into the same niche.
And the price is probably a really good signal of unmet housing demand, which has (probably) caused a lot more units to be built than would have otherwise.
You would think so, but in the US's tightest property markets its basically impossible to build new housing due to some combination of zoning, local review boards, NIMBY activists, and onerous environmental regulations (thing will this increase school demand not will it spew toxic waste).
Not for Brian, no.
Even if Airbnb ceases to exist tomorrow, I am fairly certain that Brian is gonna be in a better spot than he would have been in if he listened to his mom.
Oh yeah he will be of course. It's the rest of the world that won't be.
Not so sure. Not trying to defend Brian or AirBnB, but realistically, it was bound to happen, just like Uber was.
Perhaps under a different name with a different path, but I am fairly certain that the ending would have been the same. And there are definitely lessons to be learned form this. And honestly, it could've been much worse, so I am ok with those lessons being learner earlier rather than later. I think they were pretty useful.
I'm sure Brian's mom is happy she was wrong and doesn't share your negative assessment.
This is a policy failure. We need to build more housing. Zoning, taxes, and NIMBYism are to blame.
Supply and demand curves are the law of the land. Add more supply and the problem is solved.
Wow, I didn't know this! How are housing costs going in cities that have banned or highly regulated Airbnb, like NYC or Paris? I suppose these are highly affordable cities with falling rents?
I mean, the guy has a net worth of ~$9 Billion, so, I think it's worked out pretty well for him, you know, being squarely in the tres commas club and all.
And we can say good idea/bad idea all you'd like, that's just opinion at the end of the day, the truth is there was a market for his idea, a huge one, and the market isn't mound by any sort of moral or ethical or even logical means, so applying those things in order to support a notion of 'good' or 'bad' isn't going to yield truth by any measure.
I think what you're seeing, mostly, with short term rentals, is a lack of housing inventory being created. We've got plenty of space to build, but, for a litany of reasons, it's not being built, and in a general sense, the solution to this problem is to solve those problems that're in the way of adding inventory.