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Post by High Priestess on Oct 12, 2016 5:05:55 GMT
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Post by daisygirl on Nov 15, 2016 4:04:38 GMT
The city council has discussed this and is planning on tightening up regulations and putting restrictions in place. However, we have just had a local election and the majority of the council is now under control of the anti-Airbnb faction, who have pledged to "go after Airbnb" once elected. They take office in a couple of weeks.
Malibu is a very small place that attracts millions of visitors a year and does not have the hotel capacity needed to host them all, let alone the affordability. Many of us hosts here rent our guest houses to help pay the bills and are property rich but cash poor.
I am concerned the new council will attempt to ban Airbnb altogether in Malibu and would like to know how to fight back against that if it comes to pass. Many areas of Malibu are "unincorporated" and outside city limits, so those hosts would be unaffected by any restrictions, whereas those of us inside the official city boundaries would definitely be impacted. Yet we all share the same zip code.
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Post by High Priestess on Nov 15, 2016 4:31:20 GMT
HI Daisygirl I'm sorry to hear about the turn of your City Council to being more "anti-Airbnb". It angers me whenever cities or towns move to restrict people doing Airbnb rentals in their home, since I feel there are really no good reasons for such restrictions. Most cities already have noise and nuisance laws, which could be used in the case of out of control parties -- in case those happen.... but really, I also believe that the whole concept of problems being caused by Airbnb rentals has been so exaggerated. There are just so very very few problems, relative to the number of people doing such rentals. Often, when there are problems, they typically have to do with just one or two problem rentals in a city. And the kinds of problems that occur, could just as easily happen with standard long term rentals, or with property owners regularly having friends over and/or parties at their home. There are some resources that you can use to organize Malibu hosts here: globalhosting.freeforums.net/board/23/community-organizing-airbnb-helpIt helps a lot if you can get assistance from Airbnb in organizing hosts in your area, since it's hard to contact others thru the Airbnb site -- one can get in trouble for spamming if you contact too many hosts in a short time. Sometimes Airbnb staff can contact hosts in a city where there are issues coming up, and set up host meetings to organize hosts. Info in some of these articles gives directions for how to check in to see if that's possible for your area. AIrbnb does not have the resources though to offer such help in thousands of cities. So do what you can if you don't get help from Airbnb just by setting up meetings. You could set up a Malibu host group on FaceBook or as a Google group or as a www.meetup.com group, so hosts can talk to each other and have meetings. You want to figure out who are your allies in the city council and work on them. And do a lot of letter writing and try to pack the city council meetings with hosts and supporters of hosts -- you want to outnumber the opposition. |
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Post by daisygirl on Nov 16, 2016 4:15:58 GMT
Great ideas and comments... Thank you.... I am good friends with most of the outgoing council and thought we had enough support to put restrictions on the party houses while not preventing the old fashioned bed and breakfast style operators from continuing. We think we are actually providing a service to visitors, in a city that has few hotels and little affordable accommodation, not to mention our guests contribute to the local economy by shopping and eating at local businesses.
Unfortunately, the majority of the council has now changed to a much more restrictive group that has little time for Airbnb and lumps all of us together, both good and bad. They don't care about the $1.2million in tax revenues the city received last year and soon they get to vote on restrictions the city staffers are preparing to bring before the council. I fear the worst. Very few hosts are willing to speak up publicly. I have written letters and talked to several council members about it, but I'm on the "other side" to the incoming council members so that influence is now waning. My neighbors don't even know I do Airbnb, THAT is how quiet and discreet it is. Many of us feel tarred and feathered by the Airbnb label, as it has become so controversial. Few of us are willing to stand up in public and admit to be a host...
I have reached out to a couple of fellow hosts and discussed the idea of banding together to fight for ourselves. It is hard to motivate the ones outside the official city limits, who are exempt from city regulations, because they won't be affected by a ban. I am all for restrictions, to weed out the bad apples and the party houses, but think an overall ban is both harsh and unnecessary.
Thank you for your suggestions and I will let you know how the council vote goes when the issue comes back to the council table shortly.
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Post by High Priestess on Nov 16, 2016 4:34:10 GMT
Yes, keep us posted on what happens there!
It's a real problem for many hosts that Airbnb has become such a convenient entity to "hate on." The scapegoating of Airbnb causes problems for many of us. And yes, it's really too bad but people who should be very careful about making distinctions, and not throwing baby out with bathwater when passing laws in local government, seem to be careless about this. That carelessness is not a sign of a responsible government -- my ideal government is very cautious about passing more laws and regulations -- knowing it's harder to undo laws than to set them up in the first place.
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Post by daisygirl on May 22, 2017 16:03:17 GMT
Unfortunately, the majority of the council is now under the control of a very conservative group who made going after Airbnb in Malibu one of their priorities during the last election campaign. At the next council meeting tonight there could very well be a ban on Airbnb except for summer and winter holiday periods, whatever that means. How could that even be enforced? Awaiting the next meeting with interest, as it will likely kill off many Airbnbs here, except for the ones outside the city limits, which are exempt from any new restrictions. That also seems unfair.
Where do visiting grandparents stay? Pepperdine parents? Triathlon runners? We host a lot more than just tourists...
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Post by High Priestess on May 23, 2017 3:55:14 GMT
That sounds very unfortunate, DaisyGirl. This kind of total ban on short term rentals is rare, but it does seem to happen in a few rather snooty locales, of which Malibu may unfortunately be one such.
There are various ways of enforcing short term rental laws. One is that in smaller communities, where people know each other, it's easier for the government to find out who's behind a particular ad. Another is that neighbors can turn into "spies" and report what their neighbors are doing with their bedroom. Some cities go so far as to do sting operations and book stays with people whose listings appear to be illegal.
Of course, Airbnb and VRBO and the like are the primary platforms under scrutiny. Hosts listing on lesser known platforms may come under less scrutiny. And doubtless new hosts will pop up from time to time, unaware of the city's restrictions or ban, and list their place.
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Post by daisygirl on May 23, 2017 5:43:23 GMT
It's all political and down to the fact the council majority wants to restrict everything they can here now, regardless of the effect on tax revenues or impact on residents. There is actually going to be a meeting tomorrow to discuss restrictions and what is being proposed is a complete ban on overnight rentals except for the summer period and the winter holiday period. Not sure what "summer" actually means in this regard, but here Airbnb is basically a year round thing although quieter in the winter months obviously. I've been told this is what the council majority wants and is pushing for and as they have the votes, they will probably get their way. Several hosts will attend the meeting to try to convince them otherwise but I'm not optimistic.
Where is Airbnb in all this?! They need to get ahead of it and fight for their hosts and their product. They always seem to be playing catch up.
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Post by High Priestess on May 23, 2017 14:48:36 GMT
Airbnb does get involved in some city battles -- but they dont' have the resources to be everywhere now. I posted about that a while ago, here: globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/16/airbnb-mobilization-team-community-relationsSo they tend to definitely be involved in large cities, less so in small cities or towns, particularly if the locale is far from their offices. So, unfortunately it does seem that if city council members are dead set on being very restrictive, and won't listen to hosts, there's not much hosts can do about that. |
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