The portrait that Airbnb paints of its hosts is homeowners who either want to occasionally rent out unused rooms, or people who just happen to have amazing weekend homes that they want to share with random strangers. That may be true for many Airbnb hosts, but there’s also a growing concern about so-called “mega hosts” who are effectively running hotel operations, renting out dozens, hundreds, sometimes more than 1,000, properties at any given time. [More]
rentals
Samsung To Sell, Rent Refurbished Recalled Galaxy Note 7 Smartphones — But Not In The U.S.
By 3.27.17 — Updated: 3.28.17
Samsung has millions of recalled Note 7 smartphones sitting around gathering dust (and hopefully not exploding), and now the company says it may sell refurbished versions of the device (which, again, hopefully won’t explode), but that it won’t be selling these recycled products in the U.S. [More]
Watch Out For These 3 Upselling Tactics When Renting A Car
By 3.13.17
When you’re traveling and can’t rely on public transportation, renting a car is a convenient option. However, it can also come with a higher-than-advertised price tag when you add in the fees and optional services you might not actually need. [More]
Wall Street Now Owns A Lot Of Homes; Is Kind Of A Mean Landlord
By 1.3.17
The foreclosure crisis of last decade left a lot of houses on the market for cheap. Big investors, including hedge funds, private equity firms, and large investment firms, bought them up to use as single-family rentals. It turns out that a hedge fund several states away is not a friendly landlord. [More]
Airbnb Tries More Self-Regulation In New York, Too
By 10.19.16
If the vacation-booking site Airbnb has to be regulated, it at least wants to impose regulations on itself instead of having local governments do it. While the company is starting to self-regulate in San Francisco and cooperated with the city to make rules in Chicago, it also proposed rules for itself in New York. [More]
San Francisco Proposal Would Limit Residential Airbnb Rentals To 60 Days/Year
By 10.14.16
The relationship between Airbnb and its home city of San Francisco is complicated to say the least. the least. The two have repeatedly duked it out over regulations, taxes, and liability, and now the stage is set for yet another battle between the city and the home-sharing platform, as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors considers reducing the number of days people in the city can rent out their homes each year. [More]
Airbnb Hosts Having Difficulty Refinancing Homes
By 8.30.16
Until recently, home loans generally covered two types of properties: primary residences or investments. That was before services like Airbnb allowed anyone with an extra room to make a bit of extra money by renting it out for short periods of time. This blurred line between “my house” and “my investment” is causing trouble for some homeowners when they go to refinance their mortgages. [More]
Terrible Landlord Accused Of Harassing, Literally Freezing Out Tenants
By 7.27.16
The landlord in East Harlem in New York City wanted the last rent-stabilized tenants out. The rest of the building was being renovated to attract market-rate tenants, but the family with five kids just wouldn’t leave, even after the five other households in the building did. Now the landlord has been arrested and accused of harassing the family and endangering their children. [More]
Hey, Chicago: Here Come The Airbnb Regulations
By 6.23.16
Airbnb will be allowed to operate in Chicago after the city council passed two measures on Wednesday that allow short-term rentals, but there will be a few restrictions on that process. [More]
For $628 A Night You Can Cook In The French Cottage Where Julia Child Cooked
By 5.31.16
If you’re the kind of person who’s read and tried every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (or you’ve at least seen that movie about the woman who did) you’ve already gotten pretty close to the legendary Julia Child. But now you can get even closer: you can rent out the chef’s cottage in Provence and cook in her kitchen (or sleep in it, if you want). [More]
Redbox Reportedly Looking Into Starting Streaming Service – Again
By 3.25.16
Two years after Redbox Instant was officially declared dead, the DVD rental business is poised to dip its toes into the video streaming service waters yet again. [More]
Would You Borrow Your Outfits By Mail For $139 Per Month?
By 3.24.16
Would you treat your wardrobe like a Netflix DVD subscription? Rent the Runway, a company known for renting out special-occasion dresses and ugly holiday sweaters, has been testing a service that they call Unlimited for a few years now, finally letting it out of beta. The idea? You rent three pieces of designer clothing at a time, receiving the next one in your queue when you send one back to be dry cleaned, or just because you’re tired of it. [More]
Airbnb Guests Find Decomposing Body In French Rental’s Garden
By 2.29.16
We’ve heard of Airbnb horror stories before — from nightmare renters who refuse to leave, to guests who find hidden cameras watching them — but this might be one of the worst, and saddest: renters staying at a house near Paris discovered the decomposing body of a woman in the home’s garden. [More]
Airbnb Wants To Get Into Bed With U.S. Landlords
By 12.17.15
Though there are surely tenants out there renting their apartments out on Airbnb without their landlord’s blessing, the short-term rental site wants to get on the good side of apartment owners around the country. To that end, it’s reaching out to a few large companies with a lot of properties to see if all sides can work out something beneficial to all involved. [More]
San Diego Woman Must Pay $15K Fine Over Airbnb Rentals
By 8.14.15
Cities across the country have been cracking down on Airbnb and homeowners who rent through the service but may be playing fast and loose with the rules: from enacting city laws and creating offices to enforce said regulations, to ordering the company to pay millions of dollars in hotel taxes and levying fines against those who provide accommodations through the site. The latest such case comes out of San Diego where a woman was recently ordered to pay $15,000 for renting rooms in her home in violation of city laws. [More]
San Francisco Creates New Office To Regulate Airbnb, Other Short-Term Rentals
By 7.2.15
The city of San Francisco and Airbnb have a somewhat contentious relationship, most recently involving tens of millions of dollars in back-taxes the short-term rental company agreed to pay the city earlier this year. Now, to ensure things continue to go smoothly for renters and rentees of services like Airbnb, the city has created a new office for the sole purpose of enforcing rules regarding vacation and short-term rentals. [More]
The Apartment Rental Credit Check Scam Is Alive And Well
By 6.24.15 — Updated: 5.23.17
Six years ago, we alerted the world to the apartment rental credit check scam. That’s a scheme where apartments or houses that may or may not exist are advertised on Craigslist or other classified ad sites to sell not-so-free credit checks to prospective renters. Unfortunately, in spite of our campaign and warnings right on Craigslist ads, these schemes are alive and well. [More]
Airbnb Launches New Tool To Help Rental Owners Make More Money
By 6.5.15
Airbnb launched a new tool Thursday that aims to help owners of properties make the most money possible. Price Tips will create continuous suggestions for pricing based on metrics such as demand for rooms, local events and rental prices for hotels in the area. The company claims that owners who price their property within 5% of the suggested amount are four times as likley to attract a renter. [TechCrunch] [More]
