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his brand name, invest in regulatory
compliance, and bear the costs of taking
responsibility for his paying guests. So
he is galled by a mere website claiming
to be comparable to his “real” business of
people, bricks, mortar and beds.
HT reports on the two sides of the
argument that has become one of the
biggest in hospitality.
Last November, Airbnb co-founder Nathan
Blecharczyk told The Sunday Telegraph:
“InterContinental and Hilton have more than
650,000 rooms. We have 500,000, though they
have a much higher occupancy rate.”
Asked if he expected Airbnb to overtake
the two groups during 2013, he replied
“yes”, adding “If you look at our historical
growth curve, I don’t think that’s going to
change very quickly - we’ve been growing
bookings and revenues two to three times
every year and I would expect that to
continue.”
And on 28th January, Airbnb publicised
“research” that claimed to show that
it “generates £502 million in economic
activity in the UK” and “supports
11,629 jobs”.
All these claims are said to infuriate
Richard Solomons (right), despite his public
appearance of calm serenity – and it is
easy to see why. Airbnb is claiming two
mutually exclusive statuses for itself at
the same time: in the media, Airbnb (no
doubt with an eye partly on brand value) is
portraying itself as if it were a hotel brand
like Hilton or IHG. Yet legally (in its small
print), it insists that it is merely a platform
to enable a “host” to match a “guest” – and
so has no part in the transaction and takes
no responsibility for it whatsoever.
Mr Solomons’s company, however, like
every other hotelier, has to stand behind
The claims for UK economic benefit and
to “support jobs” also ring hollow to
hoteliers and B&B owners seeing their
businesses undercut by non-compliant
“hosts” letting their spare bedrooms
through Airbnb, Wimdu, One Fine stay
and other similar websites.
This is particularly acute for “bona fide”
B&Bs, which are arguably the most
direct victims of the competition posed
by Airbnb’s huge growth. The Bed &
Breakfast Association is vociferous in
claiming that “there seems to be one
rule for us, and another for them
(ie, no rules)”. Its members protest that a
“visible” B&B – even with only one letting
bedroom – will be visited by the Fire
Authority and inspected for fire safety,
whereas its neighbour letting spare
bedrooms through Airbnb will not – it
seems – be subject to any compliance
checks from anyone. Nor will most Airbnb
“hosts” have public liability insurance.