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They're similar, but with AirBNB all the payments are done through AirBNB, while VRBO is more like a classified and the transactions are done with the person who is renting the room. At least that is my understanding.
another main difference is that VRBO does not rent out room shares, which I believe compromise the bulk of AirBNB's business.
Apparently the hottest airbnb place is the places around times square in Manhattan. But it is against the housing code in NYC. I find it hard to believe it is not against the housing code everywhere. Why even have a residential housing code to begin with?
As for condos, dont most condo associations have bylaws against this? I mean what is the point of owning a condo, every condo would just be a timeshare?
Airbnb is fairly new so I bet most cities and condos don't have codes on the books. Sure condos have rules like no guests for over 14 days consecutively or something like that but Airbnb its usually a guest for a night or a couple nights. Granted most places wouldn't allow this. I recently used an Airbnb in manhattan and the girl had her friend give me the keys and said if anyone asks tell them your my friend staying here.
I think very few places would make airbnb a good primary business over a renter maybe in vacation areas or hot club ares of various cities but these places probably already have short term rentals anyway so not a huge deal. Your average condo or SFH in a neighborhood would not make an airbnb.
In my experience most air bnb is not a regular ongoing thing but someone renting out their place while they are out of town trying to make a few extra bucks but hardly a regular thing.
I used to use airbnb all the time. From 2010 until last year.
I have used it in Hawaii, Tasmania, Melbourne, NYC, SF, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Minnesota.
It's great because you can find a place to stay in a cool neighborhood or interesting building rather than in the hotel strip.
Once I did the room share option, and I ended up becoming friends with the host, who was neighbors with a guy who was on the US Olympic Snowboarding team. He took us out to a bunch of cool parties. It was great!
The downside is now that it has become more popular, people have started charging more. If you are using the option to rent an entire place, it's often cheaper to just stay in a hotel.
To answer the original question, I don't think a lot of cities have a law on the books prohibiting renting a room in your house out for a night. That is one of the tricks to AirBNB's success. They are exploiting a situation that is in a legal grey area if it's regulated at all.
I could rent my home for $2000 a week as a vacation villa. Given the amenities and location (near Disney World) it would stay rented at least 50% of the time. I could rent it long term for $3000 a month. So short term would be 25% higher gross. But then I'd have the headache of getting it cleaned and checked every week, not being able to check references, backgrounds, credit, etc. on each tenant, the list goes on. (Not to mention the HOA would have the city down my throat in a NY minute--as they should.) No thanks. I'd take the good $3000 a month stable tenant any day over short-term holidaymakers where I have a $750 security deposit and no recourse after they trash the place and return to wherever they are from.
We often rent villas or flats when we travel. The difference is that we rent through an established, licensed, bonded agency who follows local laws and zoning codes and collects taxes. We don't rent a mattress on a floor for $10 a night, or some farm where we have to milk cows and shovel manure to earn room and board. We actually spend about the same as it would run for a higher end hotel in that area (London is an exception, as we have a flat for just under $300 and a moderate hotel room would run $400), but get the space, washer/dryer, and kitchen. The only time we rent privately without an intermediary is one place we visit every few years. We rent a cottage that belongs to acquaintances in an area where weekly rentals are allowed and customary.
Your housing codes allow you to rent your home for a week on a continuous basis?
Actually I'm not unfair at all. I shows the standards that they allow and the types of people who use the service. A reputable agency wouldn't even offer such a place.
A reputable agency would also do background checks on the host and make sure it is legal for them, and that they at least own the property. In NYC, there are rental tenants who dont own the place that are using airbnb behind the landlords back.
I live in a condo and would be livid if my neighbors were compromising the security/harmony of our shared space by renting out their apartment to randoms.
Sounds like a few people have their minds made up about AirBnB. Simple: don't use it. I have used it three times for specific types of trips with great success, and would do it again with no qualms. Saving $ was part of the equation but by no means the only factor.
However, I am sympathetic to the critics in one respect. Like a lot of things, AirBnB is great until the idiots rush in, and I've seen a few cases near me where that's happening. My neighborhood wouldn't be on anyone's top 100 list of vacation locations, or even a list of outlying areas where a bargain-hunter would stay. So I was surprised that I saw about a dozen listings for AirBnBs in my neighborhood. Two of the listings were well-known "rent my party house" locations where some investor has bought a nice home and rents it out to film shoots, events, and parties using a variety of services including AirBnB. One guy unbelievably is renting out nights in two RVs parked in his driveway. Two other listings are for "4-20 friendly" arrangements. The rest were normal guesthouse or extra room situations. None of the wacky uses I describe are what AirBnB is supposed to be about, but I also believe they're the minority.
Actually I'm not unfair at all. I shows the standards that they allow and the types of people who use the service. A reputable agency wouldn't even offer such a place.
Seriously? You brand those of us who use airbnb as a 'type of people'? Do you generalize that way about the customers of hotels or motels that are 3 stars or less?
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
Some of us prefer privacy and don't really care about an "interesting" host meddling in our business.
Well that's an easy one... don't use the service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by timberline742
They're similar, but with AirBNB all the payments are done through AirBNB, while VRBO is more like a classified and the transactions are done with the person who is renting the room. At least that is my understanding.
My son spent quite a while talking with the host about the airbnb screening process for prospective hosts. The payment for the rent on the rooms was submitted to airbnb at the time of the booking. Airbnb held the funds until the day after arrival at which time they released the money to the host. If need be, I could have canceled our reservations right up to the day of arrival without incurring a cancellation fee. As it turned out, the rooms were lovely (even better than shown on the airbnb website), they were comfortable and quite clean. We had no regrets and would use them again. We will probably do that again in the very near future.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 37,007,908 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LilyLady
Seriously? You brand those of us who use airbnb as a 'type of people'? Do you generalize that way about the customers of hotels or motels that are 3 stars or less?
Sounds like a few people have their minds made up about AirBnB. Simple: don't use it. I have used it three times for specific types of trips with great success, and would do it again with no qualms. Saving $ was part of the equation but by no means the only factor.
However, I am sympathetic to the critics in one respect. Like a lot of things, AirBnB is great until the idiots rush in, and I've seen a few cases near me where that's happening. My neighborhood wouldn't be on anyone's top 100 list of vacation locations, or even a list of outlying areas where a bargain-hunter would stay. So I was surprised that I saw about a dozen listings for AirBnBs in my neighborhood. Two of the listings were well-known "rent my party house" locations where some investor has bought a nice home and rents it out to film shoots, events, and parties using a variety of services including AirBnB. One guy unbelievably is renting out nights in two RVs parked in his driveway. Two other listings are for "4-20 friendly" arrangements. The rest were normal guesthouse or extra room situations. None of the wacky uses I describe are what AirBnB is supposed to be about, but I also believe they're the minority.
This is actually what brought the microscope to AirBNB in the first place.
When it started it was great because you could stay in NYC in someone's spare room for like, fifty bucks.
However, then some dude there (Toshi) got the idea to just start renting apartments, then turning them into AirBNB hotels. At one point he was renting like 50 apartments, then renting them back out again as AirBNBs. He even had a sprinter van with his logo and URL and would drive it around Brooklyn to replace the mini-shampoos and towels. It was clever in a way but it really angered other residents in those buildings. It was so brazenly out in the open that the NYC hotel board took quick notice, and lobbied hard to shut out AirBNB entirely.
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