Feb

LATEST: ITV Tonight news team to investigate Airbnb’s growing power

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Presenter Jonathan Maitland will look at how the platform has revolutionised travel accommodation, helped landlords increase revenue but also reveal downsides for communities.

ITV’s flagship news programme Tonight is to
broadcast an in-depth and critical look at Airbnb five years after it took hold
in the UK.

To be aired tomorrow (Thursday 20^th
February) at 7.30pm and presented by Jonathan Maitland, the programme will look
at how Airbnb has grown into a multimillion dollar behemoth revolutionising
both the way people book holidays and business accommodation, and how
increasing numbers of landlords make money from their properties.

“It’s been reported that 7% of residential
landlords have moved their properties to the short-stay market,” says Paul
Shamplina of Landlord Action.

The programme will also look at the downsides
of Airbnb’s success and examine two neighbourhoods where it’s impacting the
traditional housing market negatively.

This includes hollowing out areas as tourist
ghettos, driving up rents for longer-term tenants as supply to the traditional
market is squeezed, and encouraging the spread of ‘party houses’ used by stag
and hen-do organisers as a cheaper alternative to hiring a venue or hotel.

This final problem is one that LandlordZONE
has been reporting on for some time including last week when Airbnb told us
that it was preparing to take measures to ban these kinds of bookings, which
can lead to localised anti-social behaviour.

The Tonight team will also reveal how platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway and Booking.com are being used by rogue tenants to sub-let properties they have rented via long-term contracts, for a profit. Two weeks ago, industry association ARLA Propertymark published a withering report on Airbnb, which the platform subsequently said featured ‘flawed conclusions’.

Watch Paul Shamplina’s video about the programme

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