That's why Airbnb advertises with ordinary people



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All those who visited of Volkskrant or Het Parool last weekend had to be noticed: the open letter of a whole page of the owner of the house. Amsterdam Airbnb, Eva. She writes that it hurts her "sincerely" that so many people think negatively about Airbnb, "while I get so much joy from it". She rented with a bed & breakfast across the platform for 2 years and therefore meets only "nice and interesting people". "I hope that with this letter I can show you that our B & B has no connection with the harmful tourist stereotype."

Mass Tourism

Eva reacts to critics that Airbnb has received in Amsterdam from residents as well as media. The platform of entrepreneurs Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk would further increase mass tourism in the city already too busy, say critics. In addition, there would be illegal Airbnb hotels, which were intended solely for platform rental. Documentary Program Tegenlicht showed in 2016 that some owners of Amsterdam rented rooms only to their Airbnb tourists, so that roommates lived together permanently with a variable occupation of tourists.

Airbnb would see house prices in the capital itself with a ton, and ING placed the same year in a critical report. The municipality has decided that Amsterdam owners are not allowed to rent their apartment or parts of it for more than 60 days a year. This will be reduced to 30 days a year starting January 1st.

The letter in the newspapers caused a lot of controversy via Twitter. "You can activate it," wrote a Twitter user. Another user pointed out the explosion of real estate prices and others have doubted that Eva really exists.

Eva

Eva exists, reported AT5 . The information platform had managed to contact Eva on the phone and she said that she was connected to the Amsterdam Gastvrij platform, where she got in touch with someone from Airbnb who said, "If you want to do something against Airbnb's bad image, call me." This was done by Eva, who also insists AT5 that the bad image on Airbnb is unjustified. "Of course, it is too busy in some places and there are some drawbacks of drunken tourists and other things, but it is not a B & B like I did."

We are also looking for Eva and her B & B really exists. As an entrepreneur, she also ran a concept store in the city, we read on Eva's Facebook page, where she posts messages from her B & B and records them once for Airbnb . If she was paid for the campaign? Airbnb tells Sprout that this is not the case. The platform also points out that Eva really exists. The alleged Eva has not yet responded to an interview request from us.

The open letter does not seem to be an incident either. Eva declares AT5 that other letters will follow. Airbnb in Amsterdam is also engaged in a publicity campaign and advertising in public transport in the capital. The company also uses Airbnb host stories in these advertisements.

The criticism of Airbnb does not seem to have less. A letter sent today to Het Parool reads: "Eva, your limited view on Airbnb is harmful to Amsterdam."

Nevertheless, there is a thoughtful idea behind this campaign. This is not the first time that Airbnb is using hosts to boost the company's image. In 2014, the platform came with the story of the New York Airbnb hostess, Carole, who had become unemployed and had lost her husband. By renting a part of her house through Airbnb, she again had an income and met new people.

No matter how big your hatred for Airbnb is. Carole's video will make you feel sympathy. And that's exactly what Airbnb is trying to conjure up. Carole's video was accompanied by a display campaign similar to that of Amsterdam. The fate of the owners was also central to this campaign 19659004 Chris Lehane 19659003 The brain behind these campaigns is American Chris Lehane 2014. Lehane is good enough to framing . Because of his work for the Democrats, he must know that you can score with stories of ordinary, hard-working people who are trying to climb the social ladder. Airbnb hosts exactly matches this profile

Airbnb creates at the same time a dichotomy among homeowners, who can win with vacation rentals, and tenants, who can not do that and because of rising house prices are also less easy to buy a property? Lehane seems to ignore this kind of stories

Fortune – the journalist Leigh Gallagher describes in her book The Airbnb Story that Lehane in San Francisco mobilized the owners for that They are going to collect signatures against stricter rules for the platform. They collected 67,000 votes, under the slogan: "Airbnb helps the middle class to make money."

Airbnb hopes to make public opinion more optimistic about Airbnb with its campaigns and mobilizations, so that critical cities like Barcelona and London – becomes less strict for Airbnb. According to Airbnb, the platform would cause little nuisance, but especially for the spread of tourists across the city. Airbnb guests do not just stay in city centers, says Airbnb, but also in neighborhoods where there are few tourist hotels – like in Amsterdam, for example, in the Noord district. A look at the number of homes offered points out that this actually seems to be right. However, tourists from their Airbnb in Amsterdam-North take the ferry to the center en masse, you do not hear Airbnb.

Mobilizing supporters

To mobilize more supporters, Lehane and his campaign managers work with what is called " Home Sharing Clubs " in 100 cities around the world, The Daily Herald from Chicago reports in an interview with Lehane in 2017. You can only become a member if you use Airbnb -host. According to the newspaper, these hosts believe that their income depends on Airbnb and that they link Airbnb to their identity as an entrepreneur in vacation rentals. People from these clubs would bring positive letters and opt-eds to Airbnb around the world, as was the case with Eva in the Dutch media. They also organize events on behalf of Airbnb. All to show that Airbnb helps the middle class .

Airbnb must obviously have many of his followers. Every year, the platform hosts a big event for homeowners called the Airbnb Open. At this paid event, they receive tips on how they can optimize their rental and – more importantly – the feeling of the community is worked on.

In short, like Eva, there are many more. Opponents of Airbnb can express criticism about what they want, but the platform and its owners do not give up easily. Their attitude seems to be: Airbnb against the world .

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