#27719

Sharing. Just like Uber, Airbnb loves the word “share”. The sharing economy. Nice and warm and fuzzy and cuddly and cooperative, sharing.

Except that’s largely not what these global mega-corps are about. They’re about making money. And most of the Airbnb so-called “hosts” aren’t renting out a room in their living space to people who need it. They’re about running a business to make money.

Just like Uber isn’t “ride-sharing”. Ride-sharing is car-pooling, where the driver, usually the owner of the car, recruits extra passengers to go where the driver is going anyway, for whatever reason (convenience, share petrol costs, qualify to use a Transit Lane?).

With Uber, the driver only goes from A to B for one reason – to make money. It’s a taxi service. Aka a business, which should pay full tax like everyone else, but all too often doesn’t.

Airbnb can go and get lost. Luckily the strata property I live in is miles away from the nearest tourist attraction, but if Airbnb invaded my strata, spawning a party block, I’d be out there fighting them with everything I’d got.