00:01So I think what's happened over the many years of Airbnb, don't forget it started in 2008,
00:07so it's not new anymore, right?
00:09It's got a long history, is that it slowly assimilated.
00:12It became more and more like hotels.
00:15And this is almost just the next step of assimilating.
00:20So now, you know, we can't expect people to, for example, I read the rules today, and it
00:27is acceptable now for guests to just stack the dishwasher, or not even stack the dishwasher,
00:32and just leave the dirty dishes in the apartment or in the house when they leave.
00:37So that's a big change.
00:40Traditionally, if we think of Airbnb, the whole idea is that you are in someone's home, and
00:46you behave like a guest, or you behave like you would in your own home.
00:50And by changing these rules, we're just moving a bit another step towards being fully commercialized.
00:57commercial accommodation.
00:58Yeah, it seems like it's more corporatization of these short-term rentals.
01:05Now, guests had been complaining of having to pay a cleaning fee and then still have to
01:10clean the property before checking out.
01:13So why even have the cleaning fee?
01:16Yeah, I think it's a good point.
01:18Actually, what I would first like to say, what we see as the Airbnb offers became more similar
01:24to hotel offers, the expectations of consumers changed.
01:28So when Airbnb first started, everyone who booked knew, oh, I'm in someone's house.
01:33It's not going to be perfect.
01:34Now as it became more perfect, the expectations also increased alongside that.
01:40So it's not surprising that now guests on Airbnb are disappointed when these expectations are asked
01:48for them.
01:48So Airbnb changed it to say, you can make reasonable requests, but you really can't expect people
01:55to do these things anymore.
01:57What is a reasonable request?
01:59Well, yeah, that's a really good question.
02:01So Airbnb splits it up in house rules and in reasonable requests.
02:08House rules are things like, you can't smoke, you can or cannot bring a pet, how many people
02:14are going to be there, when you are allowed to be noisy.
02:17So it's very, very basic things.
02:19And then reasonable requests is anything beyond that, but Airbnb checks it.
02:24So if you put in your reasonable requests, I expect you to please put the dishwasher on
02:30before you leave.
02:31That is not a reasonable request.
02:33So it's actually quite, it is very, very specific in fact.
02:37And if you compare it to a commercial apartment offering, right, often you are asked to wash
02:47your dishes, right?
02:48So almost now Airbnb is holier than the Pope.
02:51We are asking possibly more from Airbnb guests than we do in commercial apartments.
02:57Well, in reaction to these new changes, hundreds of hosts say that they're very unhappy with this
03:03decision.
03:03They also said that it's inconvenient.
03:06It may even drive up prices on the platform to cover cleaning costs.
03:10You're a host.
03:11Do you agree with this?
03:13Yeah, I think people do not see the perspective of the host.
03:18So let's talk about my, oh, you will laugh about that.
03:21When I first set up our house, which is going to be, you know, our retirement house.
03:25So it's very personal to us.
03:27So when we first set it up as an Airbnb, a lady desperately want to book it, but I hadn't
03:33unpacked the boxes yet of the cutlery.
03:36So I said, you can go there, but you need to unpack the boxes.
03:39And she was happy to do that, right?
03:41So by any standard today, that would be an outrageously unreasonable request.
03:46But at that time, the expectation was, you know, we're just two normal people.
03:51And if we can make it work in a way that works for both, that's perfectly fine.
03:56As Airbnb becomes more like a hotel for hosts, there's two possible ways.
04:02They either have to increase the price or they exit.
04:05They just stop hosting.
04:06So in my case, if guests are not happy to commit to not leave dirty dishes in the dishwasher,
04:13it's almost a deal breaker for me because I cannot afford to have the cleaner rushing there
04:19the moment people check out.
04:21You know, I maybe get 10 bookings a year.
04:23I'm not a commercial operator who has a cleaner there every time there's a check-in, check-out.
04:29So it will inevitably make it unviable for some of the hosts.
04:34And it will inevitably lead to exit as well as increased price.
04:39Don't forget, another thing for the hosts is that Airbnb has recently transferred the entire commission
04:46Airbnb takes onto the host.
04:50So that's kind of two things in a row that make it really less attractive for hosts to list their
04:57properties.
04:58And therefore, not surprisingly, we see more commercial providers coming into this market
05:04with commercial properties that are specifically set up to make money from Airbnb.
05:09And we see fewer and fewer mom-and-pop operators who open up their spare room.
05:13Do you think this will make hotels or even service apartments more viable or more attractive for travelers?
05:24We already see that trend.
05:26So in the business market, Airbnb dropped from 14% to 8% market share.
05:32And that is not surprising, right?
05:35Because thinking about a business trip, where is Airbnb's advantage?
05:39If you want to have two families travel together with three dogs, right?
05:44So you need a lot of space.
05:45You want the kitchen.
05:47You want the big room where everyone can convene.
05:49That's where Airbnb is at its best.
05:52If you're a business traveler, you go to a conference, you really only sleep in the room.
05:58Well, what do you want?
05:59You want predictability.
06:00You want to know it's clean, that you can get some breakfast, maybe that there's a gym.
06:05You're probably in a place you don't know, so you're quite happy to have 24-hour reception.
06:10So, yes, there are clearly markets that are no longer appreciating Airbnb offers as much as they did in the
06:18past.
06:19So there is maybe more of a segmentation, but a different form of segmentation.
06:25Originally, it was the people who want to embed themselves in the local community go for Airbnb.
06:31Now it's really more multi-generational travel, families where you need big spaces where you can be completely independent.
