Local authorities should regulate Airbnb
THE article “Is Airbnb impacting the hotel industry?” (StarBizweek, Dec 1) was indeed very interesting.
I am a Swiss national who has been living in Asia for 26 years and 18 years in Malaysia. In the 90s, I worked for Hilton International in China and Japan as a front office manager and rooms division manager.
I congratulate Airbnb for their increase in business but I do not agree with their lack of security.
Hotels in Malaysia or any other country must have a fire escape route in each room, and in four- and five-star hotels, CCTV security cameras must be installed on each floor and, in some countries, in each elevator. Installing a CCTV security system can be very costly.
In city hotels, after 10pm one can only enter the guest elevator with a security personnel or a dedicated key card.
All these things are regulated to a certain extent by the authorities. Without such licence or permission, one cannot open or operate a hotel.
When we opened the Hilton in Nanjing in 1997, we needed about 20 different licences and permissions for the rooms division alone.
All this cost money but made the property safe and sound.
But for a guest booking Airbnb in Malaysia, none of this is taken in consideration. Airbnb does not have international standards in the selection of their members. Yes, there are regulations but not to the extent of the hotel operators.
Hence, by average they are about 50% cheaper than a four- or five-star city hotel. If they were to have the same strict regulations as hotels then the price would be different.
Airbnb is no doubt a great invention and we cannot stop it.
However, the authorities can intervene and regulate it in the same way as hotels or hostels.
In Switzerland, Thailand and Japan, the Hotel Association has intervened and the authorities have either restricted (Japan) or proposed strict regulations on Airbnb, such as putting up a fire escape route.
Competition is good for the betterment of the industry but it needs to be balanced. In Malaysia, the hotels are regulated according to international standards whereas anyone can list whatever they like as long as Airbnb accepts them – and there is no authority here looking into this.
There are other aspects which are questionable but that would take too long to list out. The point is the authorities should really look into this and have stricter regulations in place.
THOMAS Sungai Buloh