Hoteliers, If You Can't Beat 'em, Join 'em.
The Collaborative Economy: -
Collaboration – noun: traitorous cooperation with an enemy. Synonyms: collusion, consorting, conspiring…
Economy – noun: management of available resources. Synonyms: thrift, providence, canniness…
Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean: “The booking collaborative economy is disrupting traditional business models, putting downward pressure on prices and providing more choice for the public than ever before”. (SMH, 3/4/17) "An estimated 38,000 NSW homes are listed on the short-term accommodation rental service Airbnb, according to company estimates. The average user earns about $4700 a year from renting out their home…”
We say that Airbnb’s figures are false and deliberately misleading: Using San Francisco’s modelling, the loss of 38,000 NSW homes to STRs causes a negative impact on our economy of around AUD13,680,000,000/year.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro rents his property for $12,250/week ($637,000/year). Katherine rents her Hymes Beach house for $6,650/week ($345,800/year). Mary in Millers Point rents two rooms for $1,862/week ($96,824/year).
Three young Tech billionaires from California want the Members of our NSW State Parliament to deregulate Tourist/Visitor accommodation so that they and a plethora of Internet Platform operators offering bookings in residential homes for minimum 30-minute stays can maximise profits while causing untold misery to Residents.
The state government is expected to respond to the inquiry on April 12 and it is expected to give Airbnb a ‘green light’.
Surely this must mean that every accommodation provider – all Bed & Breakfast, Guesthouse, Serviced Apartment, Backpacker Lodges, Motel and Hotel Operators - should also be free to move their operations offshore to an Irish tax haven, dismiss all current staff and re-engage them as piece workers via their platforms, then refuse every Federal/State/Local Government inspection officer’s request for access to their business accounts and premises - just like Airbnb. If Housing is deregulated across NSW, why should one group be subject to scrutiny and not the other? There you go Hoteliers, share the love with Airbnb. Penetrate right into absolutely all our homes. The only possible losers? Residents.
