Airbnbs get off lightly compared to hotels
I RAN a small boutique hotel in Auckland for over 20 years and 18 months ago also ran an Airbnb.
The hotel was staffed 24 hours a day, so on the odd occasion we had a noisy guest we could deal with it. But the Airbnb was not and so we had desperate phone calls from the neighbours about one group of guests.
It is not a level playing field however. Hotels, motels and larger B and Bs all have to comply with council regulations which differ throughout the country and this costs money.
They all have to comply with fire regulations, whereas an Airbnb is expected to put in smoke detectors but this is never checked.
Hotels need a building warrant of fitness, another compliance cost the Airbnbs dodge.
If you stay in a hotel or motel you know it will be properly insulated, that the beds are fire rated and high quality.
In an Airbnb, the beds could be secondhand and the accommodation in a converted shed. Nothing is fire rated or has to be fit for purpose.
Very little GST, if any, is paid on the Airbnb accommodation, payroll costs are negligible and, if a clever accountant calls the guests boarders, no tax is paid either.
There is a place for Airbnbs but they should be safe, fit for purpose and pay their way as the rest of the sector does. Sally James
Wanaka
Support wildlife hospital
I WAS very disappointed to read that the Otago Regional Council has decided to recommend not to support funding the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital.
We consider ourselves to be the wildlife capital of New Zealand.
Shouldn’t our regional council help support the actual wildlife behind that claim?
I am proud that the DCC is assisting with funding and truly hope that the ORC changes its mind.
I can think of few other things I would prefer my rates go to than the wellbeing of endangered animals. Suzanne M. Benham
Dunedin
Abortion debate
TREMAIN’S cartoon about the law requiring women to tell lies to get rid of their young makes me sad (ODT, 29.5.18). And justifying lying as well!
Is he suggesting we should be able to terminate any new New Zealanders if their parents want, without worrying about the law? No protection for our little boys and girls at all.
What a weird world we live in when the punishment for terminating a kiwi in utero is two years’ jail or a $100,000 fine or both. And that’s for a bird. Who cares about humans?
I guarantee the day will come when our descendants will look back in history disbelieving how we could treat our most vulnerable, precious young so badly. Anne Parker
Green Island
JUST read Jess Phillips’ opinion piece on abortion (ODT, 31.5.18).
Clearly her article is more about pillorying a simplistic stereotype of men than it is about women’s health. Stuart Mathieson
Palmerston
Welcome the ‘Leader’
IT’S not often that the newspaper industry receives a feather in its cap through these dark digital days.
And even more unlikely when kudos comes from the ‘‘opposition’’.
It was reported (ODT, 30.5.18) Stuff chief Sinead Boucher complimented Allied Press, saying ‘‘we worked hard to ensure any publications we sell go to the right people’’.
So welcome into the fold Clutha Leader and the Kaikoura Star, and it kind of makes you think that perhaps Allied Press is the one made of the ‘‘Write Stuff’’!
Tony Crick Andersons Bay