AirBnB versus localism

*This is a signature contemporary struggle. It interests me a lot, because AirBnB was actually invented to find a way to crash at South By SouthWest Interactive in Austin. It's an Austin problem that's now planetary.

*The coalitions of anti-AirBnB people are also quite interesting. We've got some pretty strange bedfellows in these days of renting beds. It's quite a tangled problem on many levels, global, national, urban, neighborhood, right down to the literal bedroom.

*"AirBnB" is like an Internet boyfriend you found who's actually in your bed with you. And he's hot, funny and seems to have great prospects for himself, but then you think, "Well, when is he gonna settle down with me, build me my white picket fence and give me four kids? So I can see my grandchildren?" And the answer is: that's not in the deal, sister.

TECH MEETS POLITICS — WAR ON AIRBNB: Home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb are coming under increasingly harsh criticism in Spain. In Barcelona, critics say Airbnb is driving up rents and forcing residents out of their homes. Over the weekend, locals from the Barceloneta neighborhood occupied the beach and demanded an end to “tourist apartments.” Protestors wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “Barceloneta isn’t for sale” in Catalan. Spanish newspaper El Mundo describes the new phenomenon of “Airbnb oligarchs” in Madrid — landlords who rent only short term and to tourists.
Meanwhile in Paris, owners of 128 apartments were slapped with a total of €615,000 in fines for renting them out for more than the city limit of 120 days per year. Last week, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would team up with Germany to address an “unacceptable” tax situation for Airbnb and other tech firms like Google and Amazon.

*If you want to gender-flip that, you can listen to Anita O'Day here. Obviously Anita's an AirBnB hostess and doing great at it. "I told ya I love ya – now get out!"

https://youtu.be/pVrVOF1jF1g