For a lot of visiting the Big Apple, finding a spot to stay has grow to be rotten to the core.
Latest York City recently passed rules prohibiting short-term rentals in apartments, virtually decimating the once-thriving Airbnb market. In response to this laws, roughly 80% of Airbnb units in NYC have been taken off the site. Meanwhile, hotel prices have surged since COVID-19, and their locations in highly desirable spots comparable to Brooklyn are lower than ideal.
So what are intrepid travelers doing?
“Persons are going underground,” Lisa Grossman, a spokesperson for Restore Homeowner Autonomy and Rights (RHOAR) told Wired.
In the city that never sleeps, hosts have awoken to the practice of listing their properties in sneaky ways. Alternative resources, comparable to WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook groups, and Craigslist, at the moment are brimming with short-term rentals that look and sound so much like Airbnb’s—but are illegal, according to a report in Curbed.
The response is a straightforward lesson in supply and demand. Latest York City is amongst the hottest cities on Airbnb in the world, with 72% of Airbnb hosts using their revenue to remain of their homes. Hosts need to find that cash elsewhere, and renters need to discover a place to sleep. Some hosts have switched to long-term rentals, which account for 94% of the city’s listings. But most have created a shadowy Airbnb-like haven, sporting familiar amenities and cleansing fees.
Gothamist reports that some former Airbnb hosts aren’t even trying to hide their intentions. One ad recently read:
“Due to the ban on short-term rentals by NYC — I’m now offering this short-term rental via other avenues comparable to Craigslist. “I even have consistently been a superhost on Airbnb, and currently have an overall rating of 4.93.”
Related: Find Out How Much Extra Money You Can Make With Unused Spaces in Your Home Using Airbnb
The Black Market Comes with Risks
Despite the appeal of those shadow listings, they arrive with significant caveats. Without the safety net of Airbnb, customers must depend on Venmo payments to unidentified hosts, who is probably not on the straight and narrow. These unregulated listings also lack the guest reviews and all protections that provide peace of mind on platforms like Airbnb.
Some have found solace in services like Houfy, a platform offering a smidgen of the Airbnb experience, including customer reviews. But Houfy doesn’t have verified payment methods.
Related: Airbnb ‘Tenant From Hell’ Finally Leaves, Police Oversaw the Move Out
What This Means for the Future
The strict Latest York City rental rules were initially passed to alleviate the housing strain on Latest Yorkers grappling with high rents and shortages. Officials hope the latest policy will force property owners to rent those homes to residents as an alternative of tourists. Nonetheless, dissenting Airbnb hosts argue that the regulation deprives them of a versatile supplementary income without significantly addressing the housing supply crisis. The result has been chaotic.
For its part, Airbnb seems intent on making it anywhere but Latest York, Latest York. CEO Brian Chesky recently said the company is now specializing in Paris, the home to the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“I’m saddened; I’m disenchanted,” Chesky said at an event hosted by Skift about Airbnb’s dealings in Latest York. “Unfortunately, Latest York is not any longer leading the way—it’s probably a cautionary tale.”