
How Airbnb Stopped Playing Nice - mirandak4
https://backchannel.com/how-airbnb-stopped-playing-nice-3289d48d1bf5#.u09nxmvp7
======
basseq
The fact here is that local laws are not set up for national marketplaces.
Airbnb, Uber, and others have hit a scale and a level of consolidation where
they become the _easiest_ channel to try and enforce compliance with local
regulations. It's easier to go after Airbnb than try and ferret out 100,000
individual hosts who may or may not be following the law.

Remember, the marketplace idea isn't new. We didn't see this level of
institutional resistance to eBay or Craigslist.

And here's where I'm torn. Airbnb can no more take legal liability for
individual hosts following local tax and zoning regulations than eBay can take
liability for sellers hawking children's toys with lead-based paint or
Craigslist to ensure the safety of their personal ads.

There is, however, a commercial benefit--and ideally a societal requirement--
to help ensure safety of renters on the platform (attracts customers and
eliminates bad actors). I'm not sure I agree that Airbnb should be a _de
facto_ compliance arm of the local government... that's a gray area.

I don't know if I'm convinced that Airbnb has stopped being "nice", but they
are playing at the adults table now.

~~~
mi100hael
_> And here's where I'm torn. Airbnb can no more take legal liability for
individual hosts following local tax and zoning regulations than eBay can take
liability for sellers hawking children's toys with lead-based paint or
Craigslist to ensure the safety of their personal ads._

I think the difference in my mind is that eBay, CL, etc. are second-hand
markets. They're just a digital version of the classified ads in the newspaper
or a bulletin board at a coffee shop, and there's no permit required to list
your old car in the newspaper.

Uber & Airbnb also have analog analogues, but they are rooted in the service
industries. As this article touched on, Airbnb hosts are basically just
independent Bed & Breakfast hosts. Uber drivers are just independent cabbies.
In both cases, cities have had laws in place for years to address issues of
safety, taxation, and oversight. The only difference now is that online
booking services have popped up that will allow anyone to sign up as a
provider.

I think the best approach is two-pronged. On one side, drivers and hosts
should be legally required to get the necessary permits the same as any non-
digital provider. They should be required to visibly post their permits and
should be subject to the possibility of audit. Maybe the current laws on the
books could be revised to streamline the permitting process or lower some
hurdles to make it easier for part-timers, but to me that's a separate issue.

On the flip side, Uber & Airbnb should be strongly incentivized to build some
checks in their system to prevent individuals from blatantly breaking these
laws. Sites like the Pirate Bay have been repeatedly subject to take-downs and
legal action for simply facilitating peer-to-peer sharing despite not hosting
any infringing content on their own servers. It's hard to see why Uber or
Airbnb are any different.

~~~
basseq
It's a spectrum. Compare Airbnb to Craigslist, VBRO, or HomeAway. Airbnb
layers on additional services: payment processing, mainly. Some ratings data
as well, but VBRO has that, too. Not wildly different, and—at least in my
mind—Airbnb "hosts" aren't "independent hoteliers under a central brand".

Here's another interesting hospitality analog: all the big chains are
franchises. If I own a Marriott in Des Moines and don't pay my taxes or follow
building codes, is _Marriott International_ liable? (I really don't know:
"it's complex" is probably the real answer.)

Uber is a step _further_ towards the service economy. In all these cases, and
going back to my central thesis here: "local laws are not set up for national
marketplaces". I think these guys do bear some responsibility, but at the same
time, you can't just require them and individuals to follow the current
process _because it doesn 't work_. Taxi medallions in NYC cost _a million
dollars_.

I think Airbnb and Uber _are_ incentivized to build checks into their systems,
because they add assurances to their customers: both suppliers and users.

------
epberry
Is any of this surprising to anyone? Airbnb is battling laws (often
arbitrarily set with a healthy does of lobbying from established industries)
that create undue burden on itself and its business. The same way Netflix
battles anti net neutrality laws, Uber battles Taxi regulations, Google
battles right to be forgotten and data storage rules, and almost every other
company in almost every other industry fights against restrictions which don't
occur naturally in the market.

Now there's a balance here. For example, the Koch brothers fight against
environmental regulations, the lifting of which would clearly help their
business but hurt a great number of people. But for companies which are
leveraging internet technology, network effects, and markets which are
inefficient only because they are not national or international _and_ benefit
a great number of people through lower prices and a better experience, I can't
help but root for them to overcome regulation and outdated laws.

------
huac
That's the saddest tweet I've ever seen.

([https://twitter.com/hopewell828/status/425777540624424960?re...](https://twitter.com/hopewell828/status/425777540624424960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw))

------
pricechild
I didn't realise until the abrupt ending that this was an advert.

Ugh.

~~~
steven
A book excerpt is not an advert.

------
steven
I wonder if the different dispositions of the companies in the first few years
were simply a consequence of founders' personalities, relative market
conditions, or the way the companies grew. Would Uber have been less combative
if it had grown up in YC?

