I know a couple of B'gamers who have successful Airbnb or VRBO hosts as neighbors. For the most part, it works OK as long as there is enough parking and the noise is under control. B'game is popular as a last-night-of-the-trip stay for people flying out of SFO; especially on those early morning flights we hear so often. As Airbnb preps for its IPO, the size of the operation is slowing coming into view via its filings. The Chronicle piece was mostly focused on the city, but it did include this tidbit of info that we can keep for future reference
Airbnb said it had 44 percent annual growth in guest arrivals in the five counties surrounding San Francisco, without specifying how that affected regional revenue.
I'm guessing B'game was at or above the five county average increase. According to the B'game Urban Water Management Plan, residential use accounted for 59% of the potable water demand during the 2011-15 period. Single-family was 41% and multi-family was 17% of the total demand. Airbnb adds to this demand, but the question is by how much? The other question is "Why not apply the transit occupancy tax (ToT) to these stays as well? I'm sure the hotels would be in favor and there is a cost basis to do it.
READ MY LIPS:
NOOOOO NEEEEWWW TAXXXESSS
Posted by: J. Mir | March 04, 2019 at 03:09 PM
Think of it as a 'fee'. That always makes it easier to swallow. Not.
Posted by: Phinancier | March 04, 2019 at 05:07 PM
Maybe i'm missing something, but how does Airbnb add to the demand of potable water?
Posted by: waterworks | March 05, 2019 at 11:59 AM
Interesting background on AIRBNB.
https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/airbnb-statistics/
Our 12 unit apt is currently allotting 2 units to this function as a test case. Will let you know how it works out.
Posted by: Ronil | March 06, 2019 at 04:44 AM
Waterworks cannot connect more people in houses with more water being used? Really?
Posted by: resident | March 07, 2019 at 09:43 AM
From today's WSJ and a possible candidate for the "who are you going to believe? me or your own eyes?" file:
Short-term vacation rentals haven’t significantly contributed to the rise in American housing costs, according to a nationwide study by Oxford Economics that was commissioned by booking website Expedia Group Inc.
In the first such study to cover every U.S. county where data was available, the report found that over a four-year period only 0.2 percentage point of the 4.3% rise in inflation-adjusted rent could be attributed to the effects of short-term rentals. For home sales, the increase amounts to less than $9 on the average monthly mortgage payment.
Expedia is the owner of short-term vacation rental platform Vrbo, one of the larger short-term brands in a growing field that includes Airbnb, Sonder and others. Oxford Economics is an Oxford, U.K.-based forecasting and quantitative analysis firm that said it compiled a data set with more than 70 variables for the study.
Posted by: Joe | November 20, 2019 at 01:34 PM