system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: In popular destination cities AirBnB does way more harm than good.

I think it's ironic that a website that started out as a way of finding a place to crash, getting hosted by a local, and having a more "authentic" experience, is now the reason why you can't have an authentic experience.

First off I should say that my first experience on AirBnB was back in 2012, before it became insanely popular. I went to Gdansk, Poland for a EURO cup match with my dad. It was a great experience, a local couple hosted us in their house, and I mean actually hosted, as in they were still in the appartment, they gave us great tips on where to go, what to try and how to get around, hell he even invited us to watch Polands opening game at the fan zone with him and his friends. It was a great way to travel, someone opened their homes to us and showed us their city. Ohh how things have changed since then.

I live in Florence, Italy and it has just gotten really out of control here. You could say it helps people make extra money, and while.that may be true, its also true that people who already have money rent 10-15 apartments and put them on the short term-rentals market. Meaning there are less apartments available for people.who actually live here and prices have gone up 20-30% in the last 5-6 years while wages have stayed the same. Most neighborhoods in the city center are 65-75% short term rentals, local stores, services and artisans cannot make a living on tourists alone, so they are forced out to make way for more mini-markets, souvenir shops, turist trap restaurants, sketchy tour operators and high end hipster bars and clubs. This has obviously created a lot of friction between locals and turists, Florentines are skeptical and suspicious of outsiders by nature, this has just made it worse. The kicker is that turist staying in AirBnB, complain that the city is to touristy, complaining about the problem they unwittingly help create. After all of this, COVID happened, you can immagine the economic impact on a city, especially the city center, that had so many of its eggs in the tourism basket. 

It just makes me sad to think that a city with over a thousand year history of artisans, craftmen, artists and small shops be done in by a phone app, fast fashion multinationals, souveneer shops and shitty Gucci knockoffs.

Show me some positives to this, god knows I need them.
gpt
>Most neighborhoods in the city center are 65-75% short term rentals

Are those tourists magically summonned by AirBnB? Or they were always there and AirBnB just gave them a place to sleep? If not for AirBnB those tourists would still be there and would need to sleep somewhere. And honestly, it's a better outcome than building more hotels as short-term rentals can serve many other purposes off-season.  


What you describe is not a problem with AirBnB, but rather problem with touristy places getting overwhelmed with tourists.