Airbnb has come under fire as of late. A coalition of local politicians, hotel owners, and housing activists launched a three million dollar campaign on Friday to bring awareness to the negative effects Airbnb has on housing.
Airbnb recently released an ad campaign that features upbeat stories from everyday hosts who have opened their homes up for guests.
One ad says that the company "stands for something much bigger than travel," but the people against Airbnb state that the rooms are essentially "illegal hotels."
"We cannot sit by while illegal hotel operators and unscrupulous landlords further exacerbate New York City's housing crisis by taking units off the market to rent to travelers, while NYC residents are priced out of the neighborhoods they call home. Illegal hotels place residents and visitors at risk and must be stopped," says state Sen. Brad Hoylman.
The coalition created a group called Share Better that will counter the Airbnb campaign by focusing on their own ads and public education. Share Better group is using Airbnb stories—real people's horror stories—to get the public on their side.
"Far from being a harmless service where New York City residents can share their homes with guests to the City, Airbnb enables New York City tenants to break the law and potentially violate their leases," the organization writes. "It exacerbates the affordable housing crisis in our neighborhoods, and it poses serious public safety concerns for Airbnb guests, hosts and their neighbors."
Airbnb is not sitting quietly on the matter, especially since it was estimated that the company spent $25 million on advertisements.
The company defends itself by noting the fact that there are "3 million households in New York City and approximately 25,000 Airbnb listings, far too few to have an effect on housing prices." It says the Share Better coalition is an attempt by the hotel industry to eliminate competition.
"Some misinformed hotels are willing to spend millions of dollars because they don't think regular New Yorkers should be able to share the home in which they live," Max Pomeranc, public policy manager at Airbnb writes.
While some users have abused the site using multiple listings that did not provide a quality experience, Airbnb states that these matters have been taken care of.
"We have worked to remove people from Airbnb that were having an adverse effect on travelers and the New York community," Airbnb stated.
Airbnb added that it will help New York financially through the company's estimated $768 million in economic activity. The company also stated that it supports 6,600 jobs.
The flip side is that the site continues to contribute to sky-high rents in New York.
Check out the Share Better video that was released during Friday's campaign launch.
