Airbnb is currently under intense scrutiny in Vancouver as the city is struggling with a 0.6% (!!) vacancy rate. Some studies have suggested that around 70% of Airbnb Vancouver revenue comes from commercial operators that permanently rent out their condo units as a sort of hotel[1]. The city is studying the issue and seems in my opinion quite keen and ready to take action to end these sort of wholly commercially Airbnb operations. Airbnb would likely only be allowed for casual, infrequent renting.
Cities love to copy one another. Going forward it seems likely that if Vancouver is able to end extensive commercial renting on Airbnb, other cities would adopt the same approach.
If commercial operations are as important to Airbnb's revenue as these studies suggest, this would be a very significant change for the company. They'd have to grow quite a bit to make up for this.
Cities love to copy one another. Going forward it seems likely that if Vancouver is able to end extensive commercial renting on Airbnb, other cities would adopt the same approach.
If commercial operations are as important to Airbnb's revenue as these studies suggest, this would be a very significant change for the company. They'd have to grow quite a bit to make up for this.
[1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouv...