We must celebrate Airbnb, not regulate it

It’s a win-win that provides a valuable service while putting more money in the pocket of the little guy.

THE first time I stayed in an Airbnb, I never wanted to book a hotel again.

I find the bowing and scraping of service workers awkward, and resent paying through the nose for pointless fripperies.

Besides being way cheaper, staying in someone’s home is much more intimate.

Give me dog-eared paperbacks and old board games over sterile hotel decor any day, and a kitchen where I can cook my own food, rather than overpriced room service.

There’s something intimate about the whole peer-to-peer experience. It’s like being at home, to the point where you sweep the floor and tidy up before you leave.

This new ‘‘sharing economy’’ feels like second nature to Kiwis, perhaps because we’ve been loaning baches to one another for yonks.

These new online platforms have only made it easier, and more visible – to the point where the powers-that-be are threatening to spoil the fun.

Queenstown Lakes District Council is pushing new restrictions that would stop suburban homeowners from renting their houses for more than 28 days a year, over no more than three lets. In other cases, resource consents would be required.

The usual suspects are already talking about imposing similar rules across the rest of New Zealand, saving vulnerable communities from the vicious scourge of holiday-home rentals. Dictating who’s allowed to stay in someone’s private home is messed up, but what makes it really unforgivable is the sheer stupidity. The central issue in Queenstown is the massive shortage of rental properties available to workers. If someone has a holiday home they visit a couple of times a year, clearly, they’re not going to put long-term tenants in. Under the new rules, those rooms will just be sitting empty most of the year. This change might even make things worse. If property owners have their dates slashed, they’ll increase their rates accordingly. Accommodation will become more expensive than ever, and just as scarce. The second argument – that Airbnb rentals are ripping off ratepayers – is even dumber. By this twisted logic, a house rented out to families and tourists for three months of the year somehow consumes more services than a house packed out with 10 bunk beds full of hospo workers all year round. If anything, the council should be giving Airbnb operators a rebate.

What about tax? Yet another red herring. People dodge tax all over the place. It has nothing to do with Airbnb specifically, and the IRD will catch up with anyone stupid enough not to declare their rental income.

I suspect the Queenstown Council is using Airbnb as a scapegoat to distract from its own failure to tackle the housing problem. The even uglier explanation is that it’s doing the bidding of the hospitality industry, which wants to shut down the competition.

Hoteliers are reportedly ‘heartened’ by the new rules. No kidding. This is (literal) rentseeking at its worst; crony capitalism supported by elites who are quite happy to keep the peasants out.

Ali Mau wrote an elegy to the small-town Queenstown she used to visit every year, claiming its heart has been ripped out by Airbnb.

Apparently it’s fine for her to swan in and out of town on her fat broadcaster salary, but what about normal Kiwi families who can’t afford a hotel, or don’t have rich mates to stay with?

If I had a home to offer, I’d do it in a heartbeat. There’s a goldmine of spare rooms around the country which could be turned into a tidy stream of side-hustle income. Do your homework on tax and accounting first, but don’t let the bully-boys and bureaucrats put you off.

Airbnb is part of a great democratising force, sweeping away the stagnant industry giants with their over-regulated, overpriced services.

The sharing economy is personable. It’s efficient. It puts more money in the pocket of the little guy. It’s the future – and those trying to stamp it out are going to find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Ali Mau wrote an elegy to small-town Queenstown , claiming its heart has been ripped out by Airbnb.’

Got a money question? Email Budget Buster at richard.meadows@thedeepdish.org, or hit him up on Facebook.