Short term pain

With hoteliers and landlords railing against companies like Airbnb, the sharing economy in Asia faces some existential challenges.

- Al Gerard de la Cruz

The trouble with the short-term rental market, that much-maligned facet of the sharing economy, is that it is a disruptor twice over. By empowering households to host other people, platforms such as Airbnb have drawn the animus of both hospitality and real estate industries.

Hoteliers want to clip the company’s wings for stealing business travellers, while landlords are twitchy about condominium unit owners who sublet their units on the sly.

Asia is fast becoming a focus for this discontent. Regulatory agencies are putting the heat on hosts in Japan, Airbnb’s fastest-growing Asian market. Earlier this year, Japanese authorities threatened a host with a fine 10 times the price of her humble listing, which was a tatami mat for JPY3,000 (USD28) a night. Her neighbours had complained about the number of foreigners showing up at her building.

In July, the Provincial Land Office in Thailand’s Phuket province sent formal notices to owners of registered apartment projects that they could face penalties of as much as THB20,000 (USD567) or even jail time if they were caught renting out properties by the day. The bone of contention: Thailand’s Hotel Act of 2008, which requires licences for properties being rented out for less than 30 days.