The sharing economy. The sharing economy. The sharing economy. Say it enough times and it’ll become a thing. Airbnb is apparently a part of the sharing economy. They’ve recently released an advert with the question ‘is mankind?’. Apart from making me feel sick and enraged it’s also an effort to pitch their service as a means of bringing people together, of overcoming difference and uniting to serve the noble goal of sharing our homes with others.
I don’t have an issue with the concept of airbnb. It’s useful and I have used it several times at prices much lower than a hotel. My problem is with the means of description by the companies in the industry and by people discussing it. Sharing is a noble goal. The idea of a gift economy is fascinating and valuable and there are other alternatives to the exchange of money for goods or services. But airbnb isn’t it. When I stayed in Edinburgh recently it wasn’t due to the generosity of the host, it was because we entered into a mutually beneficial exchange where I received accommodation and she received money. As with all the other times.
When this exchange takes place we have a word for it. It’s called selling. So perhaps it’s more accurately known as a selling economy. Hmm, so maybe that’s kind of like the regular economy then? Airbnb and their ilk are different, they make use of spare capacity of non-business property owners by decreasing the cost of connecting buyers and sellers to make it viable at a very small scale. This allows for greater flexibility than there has been in renting a room traditionally. But there’s no sharing here. It’s just selling, whether it’s your spare room or your spare car seat. The cuddly language is a guise for operating in a commercial sector while resisting regulation.
There is a community of people who genuinely share their accommodation. It’s called couchsurfing, I’ve also used it extensively and it’s full of wonderful people. The people who allow people to stay with them do so because they want to let people experience their city and because it’s what they do in thanks for being able to stay for free in thousands of cities around the world. Nobody is charged and mostly people have a good time. It’s not a hotel, nor a paid spare room, it’s a completely different experience and there’s room for all these services to be offered. Let’s just be honest about what they actually are.
