Airbnb to let neighbours give feedback
Airbnb will soon give people renting out rooms and homes through its website a better way to find out how the strangers showing up at their properties are behaving.
A new tool will let neighbours weigh in with feedback on Airbnb properties nearby, Yasuyuki Tanabe, the head of Airbnb in Japan, said this week. The feature will be rolled out globally in a few weeks, he said.
It’s no coincidence that Airbnb chose to unveil it in Japan, the company’s fastest-growing market for inbound visitors.
The archipelago’s tourism boom has created a shortage of hotel rooms and fuelled more than 30,000 listings as of February, but Airbnb rentals are causing strains in residential areas where neighbours live in close proximity, often in houses just inches apart.
‘‘One of the most important issues facing the sharing economy is how the people choosing to take part in it co-exist with those that aren’t,’’ Tanabe said at the public forum. ‘‘Our first step in this direction is to give neighbours the opportunity to comment or complain.’’ Feedback will be reviewed by Airbnb’s customer-support team, who will then take action as necessary.
Airbnb didn’t say whether the information will be made public or if identities will be disclosed.
Airbnb’s rapidly growing service has sometimes pitted neighbour against neighbour and landlord against tenant.
Cities have puzzled over how to regulate the startup, which was last valued at US$25.5 billion.
New York City has scrutinised Airbnb and taken steps to push back against commercial renters. San Francisco, Airbnb’s hometown, voted down a divisive ballot initiative that would have restricted home sharing in the city.
Airbnb neighbours the world over have complained of ‘‘party houses’’ that attract rowdy renters during major sporting events.