to enforce regulation of the sharing economy sector. Ian Taylor reports from Lithuania
Non-regulation of sites like Airbnb ‘not acceptable’
Hoteliers want consumer protection and other regulations extended to hosts on accommodation platforms such as Airbnb.
Christian de Barrin, chief
executive of Hotrec, the European hotel and restaurant association, told a UNWTO seminar on new business models: “We welcome the so-called sharing economy. It is a great opportunity, but it has to be addressed responsibly. “At the moment there are two economies – one regulated and one not regulated.” De Barrin insisted: “We don’t
ask short-term rentals to comply with the number of regulations that hotels have to comply with, but there are important matters of consumer protection.
“When it comes to consumer protection, the same rules should apply”
“This needs to be addressed as a question of fair competition. Non-regulation should not be acceptable. “We are speaking about economic activities. The growth in holiday lets, of offering tourist accommodation in home apartments, is explosive. It has reached huge proportions. It should be exploited in a fair and transparent manner. “The characteristic [of the sector] is the offer of
AMSTERDAM
PARIS STAY: Airbnb features accommodation across popular cities
accommodation and food in exchange for money. That is the same as the traditional hospitality sector. The regulated and the unregulated economy are basically providing the same service. It is not a level playing field. “There are tax issues, there are
labour issues. There should be compliance with requirements to check the identity of guests and to register their presence. Platforms should not display offers on sites that are illegal. When it comes to consumer protection, the same rules should apply. There is a need
to apply the existing rules.” De Barrin dismissed the idea of
levelling the field by deregulating the traditional hotel sector, saying: “What would deregulation of the traditional sector mean for the consumer? You can’t make businesses without any regulation.” Airbnb public policy manager
Sofia Gkiousou said: “Airbnb acts as a safe space for a person to share their home with a guest.” She acknowledged: “There are hotels on Airbnb.” But she suggested: “80% of hosts share homes they are living in.”
User review websites play down impact of fake content
Consumers have to rely on user reviews to highlight any problems with peer-to-peer accommodation at present. But TripAdvisor industry relations director Helena Egan dismissed a suggestion that fake reviews called such content into question. Egan said: “If our content wasn’t
reliable we would not survive. We have 300 people working 24/7 and nothing goes live on our site without being checked. “Our content integrity is amazing. We have hundreds of filters. We have call centres where [hotel] owners can talk to people. “Also there is the power of the
community. If you see something you think shouldn’t be there you can highlight it.” She argued: “The little problem we get [with fake reviews] comes from the industry.” RJ Friedlander, chief executive of
EGAN: ‘If our content wasn’t reliable, we would not survive’
hotel reputation-management and analytics firm ReviewPro, agreed saying: “The growth in volume and influence of online reviews is much more on the pulse of what is happening [than regulation]. “The volume of reviews is staggering. We process tens of millions of reviews a month. Of course, there are fake reviews. You can’t check every one. But the volume means it really doesn’t
matter if there is a fake review. “A city hotel with high occupancy could be generating 200 reviews a month. One or two fake reviews are not impacting the integrity of the system. Unless you’re in a very small city where competitors have little review volume, it is really not an issue in hotels.” Friedlander added: “Health and
safety issues and basic protections for the citizen need to be covered in a standardised way, but a large part of this is moderated by users and their feedback. Obviously there are things that have to be regulated. If there was an Uber for doctors this would never work.”
25 August 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 71
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
