Whether you love or loathe Airbnb, you have to admit its founder, Brian Chesky, is a pretty smart guy. Anyone who can parlay an idea to rent an airbed in a spare room into an $80 billion industry has to have more than good luck going for him.
So when he starts promoting a shift back to people welcoming travellers into spare rooms in their homes – rather than letting whole homes to complete strangers – you have to assume there’s something afoot.
There’s a “perfect storm” brewing in the holiday and residential rental market and it’s all pointing towards simple economics forcing Airbnb to embrace the genuine sharing model it first launched all those years ago.
Could market forces do what cities and states around the world have failed to achieve – get tourists into spare rooms and renters into empty flats?
This week the Flat Chat Wrap lays out the elements that could, at long last, turn back the holiday letting tide.
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Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
