The dark side of room rental sites

They say that instead of staying in anonymous concrete holiday complexes, Airbnb allows you to see a destination from the perspective of a local.

They say that instead of staying in anonymous concrete holiday complexes, Airbnb allows you to see a destination from the perspective of a local.

Published Jul 23, 2014

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London - When the call came through to Jon and Katherine Thompson on New Year’s Day informing them that a party had been in full swing in their £1-million loft-style apartment for the past 20 hours, the couple were incredulous.

The Thompsons, whose main residence is in Wiltshire, had been renting out their flat in London’s trendy Shoreditch for some time to people they believed to be good tenants.

However, it emerged that their tenants had tried to make a quick profit by subletting the property through popular room rental site Airbnb.

The company, which began life in 2007 as a few airbeds slung down in the living room of two hard-up flatmates, has proved such a hit with holidaymakers that last year it was valued at £6-billion.

Today, there are many people who wouldn’t travel any other way. They say that instead of staying in anonymous concrete holiday complexes, Airbnb allows you to see a destination from the perspective of a local, enjoy the comfort of a family home, and shop and eat away from expensive tourist traps.

Fans say it makes it possible to stay in some of the most amazing locations around the world for a fraction of the price of a hotel.

It’s also an easy way for ordinary families to make some extra money by renting out their homes when they are away — or a room, when they are there — without any of the red tape or hassle that goes along with running a traditional guesthouse.

Ruth Wasserman, from St Albans, is one loyal user who says she has been on many trips booked though Airbnb with her husband Greg — and, more recently, their baby son Ernest.

“I like to get off the beaten track and live like a local, rather than hang out with other tourists staying in identikit apartments,” says Ruth, a 34-year-old design manager. “Airbnb is always my first port of call when booking a holiday.”

There are certainly some amazing bargains on the site: 12th century Dairsie Castle in Scotland, which sleeps 13 and boasts a medieval dining hall, antiques and paintings, can be rented for £2 200 a week — or just £154 per person.

However, critics like Katherine and Jon Thompson are concerned that too few checks are made by the company to safeguard the security — financial and personal — of property owners and holidaymakers alike.

Police were unable to evict the 25 teenage revellers on New Year’s Day as they had a document from Airbnb proving they had paid rent.

And Airbnb did not, certainly in the immediate aftermath, offer a great deal of support to the Thompsons as they tried to find out what had been going on in their London apartment.

They asked the firm how many times their tenants had let it through the site and how much money they had earned, but were referred, somewhat unhelpfully, to the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section of the website.

Meanwhile, in Sandbanks, Dorset — Britain’s most affluent stretch of coastline — multi-million-pound holiday homes are being rented out through websites such as Airbnb for loud and lavish parties that go on until dawn, much to the annoyance of genteel neighbours.

Under Airbnb’s rules, people must agree not to offer properties that they do not own or do not have permission to let. However, the site does not demand proof — and a disclaimer says it has no control over the conduct of hosts.

Launched in 2008, the scale of the company’s success has been startling: 800 000 listings worldwide, 34 000 cities, 190 countries. These are just a few of the headline figures that Airbnb boasts.

It’s not just the young looking to supplement their income. A quick look at British listings reveals the over-65s are renting out rooms, too.

Everyone from students to pensioners uses the site to find holiday accommodation. Plus, anyone can log on simply to check out their neighbours’ decor.

Indeed, one big attraction of sites like Airbnb is that even before you make a reservation, you get to snoop around people’s homes courtesy of the many photographs posted online. For example, click on a picture that says ‘Amanda’s home’ and you get to see how she lives, right down to the crisp white covers on her bed.

In Britain, the company claims to have 30 000 property listings, from stately homes and moated manor houses through to city crash pads, windmills and even the odd treehouse. There are more rooms to rent on Airbnb than there are traditional B&Bs in the country.

Airbnb — which makes its money by charging owner and guest commission (six to 12 percent for guests, three percent for hosts) — is worth more than some major hotel chains, including the Intercontinental Hotels Group. So, who is behind this phenomenon, and just what should would-be hosts or travellers be aware of before booking on Airbnb?

In 2007, two young American design graduates, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, then both 27, came up with a scheme to make some extra cash to pay their bills.

With a design conference being held in their home town of San Francisco and a shortage of hotel beds, they decided to buy three air mattresses, put them on the floor and rent them out to delegates.

A few airbeds became a sofa bed, and the friends were later joined by Nathan Blecharczyk, who helped turn their idea into an online business.

Today, Airbnb’s offices are home to 750 workers and include a dozen meeting rooms designed as full-size replicas of rooms in Airbnb properties around the world.

Said to be frugal despite their wealth, Blecharczyk claims he still uses Airbnb. He recently spent three nights in Latvia with a host at a cost of just £15 a night.

Of course, renting out your home to a stranger is not without risks. Stories abound of calamities.

In New York, for instance, prostitutes have recently been using Airbnb to turn plush Manhattan apartments into temporary brothels. Then there was the comedian who unwittingly rented out his apartment for an orgy. Homes have been ransacked and there are numerous tales of damage.

Earlier this year, British fraud officers began investigating a growing number of claims that tenants in council and social housing have been illegally sub-letting properties to wealthy foreigners.

They found that one-bedroom flats, including one advertised as ‘a stone’s throw from the famous Portobello Road’, have been marketed for £155 a night on Airbnb.

So, what is the appeal?

The benefits for travellers looking to find alternatives to sky-high hotel bills are clear. As for hosts, 74-year-old Naseem Khan, the former head of diversity for Arts Council England, says that it’s about the experience more than money.

She has been letting a first-floor room in her Victorian terrace house in London for £60 a night since 2009. So far, 140 strangers have stayed with her — people ranging from a female Armenian sexologist to a marine who served in Afghanistan.

She says: “They warn pensioners not to open their door to strangers, so it seems ironic that I do just that.

“In fact, Airbnb can be very good for old people, as guests from all over the world come to you and you learn to expect the unexpected.

“I don’t mind being a surrogate mum, and I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for my area.”

But the Mail spoke to a female teacher, who lives in North London and wants to remain anonymous, whose experience renting out a room via Airbnb ended badly.

She had rented out her attic room with private bathroom for £50 a night a number of times, then decided to let out her entire home while she was away on holiday.

She returned to find a toilet cistern had been pulled from the wall (she presumes accidentally), causing a ceiling below to collapse.

She attempted to make use of the site’s ‘host guarantee’, which provides protection of up to £600 000 in the unlikely event of damage to a property — but was told she needed a police report.

Because it had been an accident, not a crime, she felt unable to go to the police — and paid £1 000 to fix the problem herself. “After that I didn’t carry on,” she says.

Airbnb says it does not cover reasonable wear and tear, or cash or valuables left in the property. For smaller accidents, hosts have the option of adding a security deposit.

“Neither the host guarantee nor the security deposit are replacements for home insurance, and we strongly recommend that hosts fully review the terms of any policies they have in place,” says a spokesman.

And therein lies one of the biggest areas of concern for anyone considering renting out a room.

Ray Boulger, senior technical manager of mortgage advisers John Charcol, says that, technically, anyone renting out a room should notify their mortgage provider — in case it effects the terms of their home loan offer.

But what may have greater impact on mortgage and financial security is household insurance.

“Clearly, if you are letting people have access to your property and giving them a key, it does change the insurance risk,” says Mr Boulger.

The British Hospitality Association and the Bed And Breakfast Association have criticised the likes of Airbnb for riding roughshod over regulation.

“Members tell us they are losing business to home-owners who are letting out their spare bedrooms via websites such as Airbnb,” says David Weston, chief executive of the Bed And Breakfast Association.

“We are only asking for a level playing field. Airbnb and their hosts must follow the same rules as we do and be checked in the same way.”

However, given that an estimated 200 000 people will spend tonight Airbnbing around the globe, it seems this is one venture that’s only going to keep expanding. - Daily Mail

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