I am feeling a tad jaundiced but can I give a reason for AirBnB's success as well:
They found a way to allow people who do not own property nor have the rights to rent out the property, to receive cash for renting out said property.
The recent BBC article estimated 40% of their bookings in this illegal / legal grey area.
When you have the ability to give income off capital to those who don't own capital it is an attractive deal - see stock shorting etc.
PS
I am (depressingly) expecting a fair number of downvotes, but I do hate to see businesses which operate dubiously (albeit a mild version relatively speaking) not being called out on it. At least YouTube got a roasting off the music and movie lawyers.
And I would like to point to ethicalconsumer.org as a fairly eye watering list of the ways in which "dubious" is ingrained in our society. We have a long way to go.
They found a way to allow people who do not own property nor have the rights to rent out the property, to receive cash for renting out said property.
The recent BBC article estimated 40% of their bookings in this illegal / legal grey area.
When you have the ability to give income off capital to those who don't own capital it is an attractive deal - see stock shorting etc.
PS
I am (depressingly) expecting a fair number of downvotes, but I do hate to see businesses which operate dubiously (albeit a mild version relatively speaking) not being called out on it. At least YouTube got a roasting off the music and movie lawyers.
And I would like to point to ethicalconsumer.org as a fairly eye watering list of the ways in which "dubious" is ingrained in our society. We have a long way to go.