4 The evolution of Airbnb regulations
Dorine von Briel, Department of Tourism, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Australia
Sara Dolnicar, Department of Tourism, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Australia
Please cite as: von Briel, D. and Dolnicar, S. (2021) The evolution of Airbnb regulations, in S. Dolnicar (Ed.) Airbnb before, during and after COVID-19, University of Queensland DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14195972
The need to regulate short-term accommodation
When it was small in scale, the trading of tourist accommodation among ordinary people created no difficulties for local residents, tourism destinations, or traditional tourist accommodation providers. In fact, the trading of space among ordinary people existed long before the emergence of online peer-to-peer accommodation platforms such as Airbnb. The Swiss and Dutch teachers’ associations, for example, started their home-swapping program for members in 1950 (Gallagher, 2017). The City Council of Varna in Bulgaria invited residents to open rooms in their homes to tourists in 1896 (Varna Municipality, 1896).
Airbnb’s convenient online peer-to-peer accommodation trading platform suddenly enabled millions of people around the world to sell access to space to strangers. High demand for peer-to-peer accommodation, initially perceived by tourists as cheaper and more authentic than traditional tourist accommodation, led to substantial structural changes at destinations around the world, especially at popular tourist destinations. Landlords in the long-term rental market saw the opportunity to earn more money and transitioned to the short-term accommodation market. Residential areas with a traditionally low tourist presence experienced an influx of visitors, affecting the use of space in neighbourhoods originally designed for use by locals only. Established commercial accommodation providers became concerned about unfair competition reducing their market share (von Briel & Dolnicar, 2021).
These changes forced regulators to assess whether existing legislation and regulation offered residents and the local tourism industry adequate protection from negative externalities, while still allowing additional economic benefits to be harvested. Regulating peer-to-peer accommodation proved challenging as most platforms facilitating the trading of private space for short-term accommodation, such as Airbnb, are global organisations operating in local legislative frameworks (Brail, 2017). In many cities, the activities of peer-to-peer accommodation platforms facilitators were breaching existing regulations, in others, their activities were unregulated. Whichever the starting point, the number of listings increased dramatically at locations with high tourist demand, forcing regulators into action. Regulatory approaches varied substantially from location to location because each destination faced a unique tourism demand pattern and a different set of negative side e