Save the Moguls: Airbnb Fights Attack by Share Better, NYC Hotels

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Share Better vs. Airbnb Save the Moguls

Uber, now pulling out of Florida’s Broward County after running into opposition, isn’t the only brand in the sharing economy that’s under attack. Airbnb is the focus of a new satiric ad campaign asks viewers to “Save the Moguls,” arguing that the home rental service is lining the pockets of wealthy “real estate moguls,” so that “by renting out just one of the apartments and homes they’ve listed on Airbnb, you can join the fight against affordable housing.”

More seriously, the attack ad argues that “Hundreds of thousands apartments are being turned into illegal hotels across the country by real estate giants using Airbnb, but they want more. Learn how you can help Save the Moguls.”

The campaign is funded by Share Better, an association representing “a nationwide group of neighbors, community activists and elected officials who have a unique perspective on the so-called ‘sharing economy’ and Airbnb in our neighborhoods.” Members listed on the site include a laundry list of New York City elected officials, neighborhood organizations and even social justice charities like Asian Americans for Equality and the AIDS Center of Queens County.

Their beef: Airbnb has about 25,000 listings in the city, of which 14,000 are illegally listed. According to the video, nearly 40 percent of revenue generated by Airbnb goes to wealthy moguls and not the average New Yorker it claims to be benefitting. Conveniently not listed on the Share Better website? Its major source of funding, the New York Hotel Trades Council, a labor union organization that has decided that the moguls you know are better than the moguls you don’t.

For months now, the Share Better organization has led a lobbying effort, largely in New York state, against Airbnb and what it says is the brand’s role coordinating illegal rentals. But the latest turn is away from the “law and order” focus to a more emotional appeal.

Earlier messaging from Share Better was emotional but with a passive appeal. For example, the “Knock it Off” story (above) asked viewers to sympathize with the plight of individuals in rent stabilized apartments, a hard sell to out of town visitors who know or care little about the politics of New York City housing.

Before that, Share Better attempted to scare Airbnb users with tales of dirty and unappealing apartments (“BED BUGS Infestation!”), the kind of experiences that never, ever happen in hotels. (Ahem!)

But Share Better has taken off the gloves in its latest, anti-Airbnb message, appealing to the so-hot-right-now subject of income inequality. If you use Airbnb, Share Better is telling travelers, you’re making the rich richer and contributing to income inequality.

The video is loaded with pull quotes from respectable publications like The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times casting Airbnb in a poor light. The ad also depicts Airbnb member moguls as white guys in sports jackets in palatial living rooms and on the tarmac in front of private jets. Leather briefcase? Check. Scotch? Check.

Airbnb Save the Moguls

It’s an emotional appeal, asking consumers to forget that people like the Hilton family profit when travelers stay at their hotels.

A common sight in New York City is a giant inflatable rat on the sidewalk outside businesses experiencing union disputes. Keep an eye on Share Better and expect even harder hitting messaging.

So far, Share Better appears to be making some headway. The New York City council recently proposed increasing penalties tenfold for landlords caught using Airbnb in violation of existing rental laws.

On the opposite coast, Airbnb is fighting a battle orchestrated by Share Better in its hometown of San Francisco, where a petition is seeking to hold it to account over illegal rentals, per Share Better’s mission statement:

We believe it’s alright for people to rent an extra room in their home from time to time, so long as they’re registered and paying the City’s transient occupancy tax. But the wholesale conversion of housing units into illegal hotel accommodations must stop. Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and the many other companies that advertise to tourists should only be offering residential rentals that comply with the City’s registration requirements.

Airbnb, meanwhile, was just legalized in Philadelphia but must pay taxes. It’s also making strange bedfellows in Europe. London and Amsterdam may be welcoming Airbnb with open arms, but Airbnb is making enemies in both Paris and Berlin. For Paris, this comes after its taxi drivers organized to fight Uber. And Airbnb may be facing fines similar to the tens of thousands Spanish authorities in Barcelona levied against the service last year.

Nonetheless, Airbnb’s reach into Europe appears influential. Old churches have organized to form a so-called “champing” network where travelers can spend a night in a historic British church like The Church of St Cyriac and St Julitta.

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