{"id":47513,"date":"2023-10-20T15:53:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/tripadvisor-takes-on-airbnb-as-industry-calls-for-regulation-of-sharing-economy-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:53:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:53:58","slug":"tripadvisor-takes-on-airbnb-as-industry-calls-for-regulation-of-sharing-economy-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/tripadvisor-takes-on-airbnb-as-industry-calls-for-regulation-of-sharing-economy-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"TripAdvisor takes on Airbnb as industry calls for regulation of \u201csharing economy\u201d – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Peak bodies in the hotel and accommodation sector are calling for governments at all levels to regulate the so-called \u201csharing economy\u201d on the same day accommodation aggregator and review site TripAdvisor told its members they can now advertise their spare rooms on the site.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a move that is being interpreted as a bid to take on Airbnb, some members of the TripAdvisor community received an email on the weekend with the headline: \u201cRent out your space on TripAdvisor\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cTurn your home, spare room or vacation house into a goldmine,\u201d TripAdvisor said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAdvertise it for free today and reach millions of paying guests waiting to book.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The email links out to FlipKey, a vacation rental site owned by TripAdvisor, where users are told they can make up to 3% per booking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More than 1.4 million Australians now log on regularly to TripAdvisor and the site holds 19% of the local market for online travel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It comes at the same time as peak industry body Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA), a division of the Australian Hotels Association, has called on all levels of government in Australia to take a co-ordinated approach to regulating the accommodation sector to help stymie some of the negative affects on small and medium accommodation providers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Carol Giuseppi, acting chief executive of TAA, told SmartCompany<\/em> this afternoon, the movement of TripAdvisor into the same territory as Airbnb has important ramifications for the industry given its size and popularity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Giuseppi says it is important to remember the \u201csharing economy\u201d is even bigger internationally and Airbnb and now TripAdvisor are just two of the players in the space.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have Home Away and Roomorama too. These are very profitable models, they\u2019re not just some little backyard business.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Giuseppi says several international studies have shown the rise of Airbnb and similar services has corresponded with \u201cexplosive growth\u201d in short-term rentals by individuals. But she says the same studies have shown commercial landlords of multiple-unit, non-residential dwellings are also taking advantage of the platforms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThey account for a large percentage of listings, in some cases over a third,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt becomes a business for them but they are flying under the radar of actual businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And Giuseppi says it\u2019s the smaller operators in the accommodation sector, including the owners of small motels and hotels and serviced apartments, which wear the biggest financial impact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes sense because these people are usually looking for a small, localised experience,\u201d Giuseppi says, pointing out the impact is not just on hostels as most people assume.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to Giuseppi some operators taking advantage of \u201csharing economy\u201d platforms are also failing to comply with safety regulations, taxation requirements and public liability insurance obligations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a significant impact on the economy,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t mind if people are renting out their rooms short-term but we are concerned about non-residential, commercial landlords who are making a business out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TAA has made submissions to state and federal governments, asking for legislation to be introduced that would require all rooms rented out on a commercial short-term basis to be formally registered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Giuseppi concedes that is \u201ca way to go\u201d as developing a national regulatory framework would mean ensuring multiple pieces of legislation work together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SmartCompany<\/em> contacted Airbnb for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peak bodies in the hotel and accommodation sector are calling for governments at all levels to regulate the so-called \u201csharing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,28,11,22,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}