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Sanna Pospicil
In recent years, the use of home-stay accommodation has exploded internationally. Sitting on the sidelines with one watchful eye monitoring this trend, as usual I decided to be a bit of a skeptic before jumping on the bandwagon and investigate the little-known facts about using a service like Airbnb for myself.
NOTE: I first published this article in March 2018 and have updated it since to reflect more recent events. It was regarded as an unpopular opinion at the time. Be sure to read my concluding comments for my overall thoughts on short-term homestay services.
This article forms part of my top strategies for to how to be a responsible a tourist, detailing effective tips towards ethical tourism to benefit visitors and locals alike. It also features in my #1 Amazon New Release book, which outlines my blueprint for what we can do as tourists to enrich our travel experiences and avoid contributing to issues caused by overtourism.
This surge in visitor numbers in need of accommodation caused a 40% increase in rent prices in popular neighbourhoods, pushing out long-term locals and small businesses in favour of more profitable short-term Airbnb rentals.
While tenants may not see an issue with secretly renting out their spare room on Airbnb for extra cash, there are risks involved for both the tenant and property owner. What the tenant fails realise is they could actually be in breach of their leasing agreement by having additional people reside in the property.
This leads to exceeding the number of people residing on the premises, handing out security keys without authorisation, no applicable insurance for issues related to subleasing, more issues regarding illegal subletting here. A tenant subletting without the permission of the property owner can result in eviction.
For instance in 2018 on the Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca, tourist lets sharply increased by 50% due to demand, which in turn lead to residential rents rising by 40%. This made housing unaffordable for most local residents and pushed them out. As a result the island voted to ban Airbnb listings to make housing affordable for residents who needed to live and work.
So, your host has also allowed friends to crash at their place during a stay and failed to mention it at any point. This may put a damper on the romantic weekend away planned with a partner, as the intimate moments they were hoping for may not be so intimate after all!
This became such a huge problem for guests, in March 2024 it led Airbnb to announce the ban of indoor security cameras for properties listed on their platform. Airbnb hosts found violating this policy would be permanently removed.
As mentioned earlier, illegal subletting sees a tenant distribute unauthorised copied keys to short-term visitors, resulting in unknown people in a residential block having access to building amenities. This can be a major security concern for other residents in the building who are there legally.
While this may not be a deal-breaker for some, there are unseen benefits. Hotels employ dozens of locals to take care of things like housekeeping, reception, concierge services, kitchenhands and the like to keep the place running smoothly. To me, providing locals with jobs is quite important and staying in a hotel supports this cause.
Now for the hidden Airbnb controversy. As we all know, in 2020 tourism completely ground to a halt due to a global event that shall not be named. This helped to starkly amplify the issues caused by short-term rentals for even the most stubborn of deniers.
In the four central arrondissements of Paris, a quarter of all properties are now no longer homes but purely short-term rentals for tourists. As a result the city is planning to hold a referendum on the future of Airbnb listings.
There is a time and a place for homestay accommodation. For instance, in rural areas where accommodation choices are slim services like Airbnb can actually help locals. In major cities where there already is plenty of regulated accommodation, whole property rentals by hosts listing multiple properties should be avoided in order to help preserve local life and their culture.
I do think that initially the idea of Airbnb was fantastic a few years ago, where hosts would share a room of their home with a visitor who wished to experience the city like a local. Unfortunately, there are always people looking to make a quick buck, exploit the system and ruin the experience for everyone.
As someone who values time more than anything else when travelling, the explosion of illegal listings, risks and ethical issues associated with Airbnb and the like do not outweigh the benefits of staying in a hotel for me personally. Considering that a pair of YouTubers also pranked Airbnb by listing a dollhouse and made $3,000 worth of bookings, it really begs the question of how much listings are actually checked.
What are your thoughts on these Airbnb problems? Do you feel the same? Let me know in the comments below! If you found this article helpful or you learnt something new, please share it or take a look at my popular travel guides and itineraries and my book for more ways to help you NOT look like a tourist on your next trip.
Australian-based Alyse is founder of The Invisible Tourist, the #1 travel blog encouraging visitors to better "blend in" abroad. Alyse's passionate advice about cultural, historical & responsible travel has been especially popular with visitors to Japan, helping millions of tourists since 2017.
Her first book details strategies for more enriching travel experiences without contributing to overtourism, and became a #1 Amazon New Release in two categories including Japan Travel. Alyse's unique approach to travelling has resulted in her work being featured on Japanese TV, in tourism textbooks, and has been shared by numerous tourism organisations.
I agree with you Hyacinth about providing sensitive passport information. How can we be sure what is done with it afterwards?
They ask for it because it means there will be no one there to sight it when you check in. Thanks for reading!
I would never stay in an Airbnb. Since the inception of Airbnb that company has spent millions of dollars to suppress and hide bad things that happen to guests of airbnbs.
I will continue to stay in a hotel where the employees are trained, the environment is safe, and where me and my family will be safe. I will stay in a hotel where standards are maintained and where they have trained security personnel etc etc
Alysse May I suggest that in your future travels you please select an Airbnb for yourself.
Your article heavily favors hotel stays. You also blame hosts and Airbnb for lack of affordable housing. Cities and developers have for generations denied people affordable housing. Now, you make seem as if the individual property owner is the single cause of housing shortage in the world.
While short-term vacation rentals are not the only contributing factor to housing crises globally, as we have examined they are a significant one in popular tourism destinations so I refuse to contribute to it. Thanks for reading!
I started using Airbnb when we went from being a family of four to a family of five and at that time my children were 12, 9, and 1. Getting two hotel rooms was expensive and often difficult to find adjoining lock off rooms. So, Airbnb has saved me numerous times in this situation.
Told airbnb and they did very little. They said they had advised the owner and told the the owner that they must comply with the local law. Airbnb consider the matter closed. This is what they call neighbourhood support. The listing is still there.
Hello,
Our neighbourhood has been totally destroyed by an An unhosted and unmanaged AirBNB. So totally wrong. Considering we bought this property before this happened 3 years later. 14 years on we are now going through the stress of it all where had to complain to our Local Shire for the second time. Just a party house, people in our yard, banging on the door, mess from everything to wheelie bin to rubbish/scraps thrown over the fence. They had no approval at the time under our Shire Planning which has been done, but to no avail as owners do not live in this town.
We are totally disgusted with unmanaged and unhosted AirBNB.
A most recent issue we had as guests: after our departure, the host notified us that they had found a window blind partially damaged. We had not noticed it that but took ownership of the matter and immediately offered to remedy the situation.
The reason I am reporting this is that it turns out that AirBnb offers zero guest protections in what is a unilateral, non-transparent, not- equitable process.
Basically, the host can (and will) issue a refund request on the basis of a quote they themselves obtained, and where they are under no compulsion to prove that the refund request is proportionate to the damage, or that the replacement is of the same quality and materials of the alleged damaged ones. As far as you know, as guests you may be little by little helping the host to renovate the property to a higher standard.
Nor does AirBnb appear to follow up any requests to have these mattes independently assessed.
Lesson learned and AirBnb is now a thing of the past for us.
I have a large historic ranch with freestanding apartments. As a senior short term rentals allow me to stay here and provide an opportunity for guests to interact with goats, alpaca, chickens and a horse. I have family visits so do not want long term rentals.
Airbnb allows me to share. However post-pandemic there are so many scammers, squatters, and grifters, short term is so much safer than lease or long term Rentals. This sort of reality is creating more short term payoff rather than trying to deal with an Uber tenant slanted legal culture. This reduces lease able rental pools. Rent control in this crazy inflation is also not tenable.