Airbnb plans to conduct a comprehensive review of every property listed on its platform as part of a series of initiatives to give customers “peace of mind,” Brian Chesky, the company’s chief executive, announced at the DealBook Conference on Wednesday.
By the end of next year, Chesky said, Airbnb will check the accuracy of photographs, addresses and other information posted with each property, as well as verify that the listings meet safety standards and that the hosts are who they say they are.
“We’re going to make sure we can stand behind every single listing, every single host,” he said. “We want to give peace of mind to our guests.”
The announcement comes less than a week after five people were killed at a party in an Airbnb rental house in Northern California on Oct. 31. Two days later, Chesky announced a ban on “party houses.”
In addition, he said at the conference, the company would conduct especially rigorous reviews of “high-risk” reservations that seem likely to lead to parties. It would also establish a hotline to address concerns from neighbors, he said, and guarantee a new Airbnb placement or a full refund to guests who check in to a property that does not match the description on the website.
“About 2 million people a night stay in Airbnbs and most without incident,” Chesky said. Still, he added, “It’s hard to prevent every bad thing happening.”
Across the technology sector, companies are reckoning with the unintended consequences of how people use their platforms, including the spread of disinformation on Facebook and racist taunts on Twitter.
“Many of us in this industry over the last 10 years are going from a hands-off model where the internet is an immune system to realizing that’s not really enough,” Chesky said. “We have to take more responsibility for the stuff on our platform. This has been a gradual, maybe too gradual, transition for our industry.”
Airbnb has faced pushback from critics who argue that its listings push often unruly tourists into residential areas. On Tuesday, the company suffered a major defeat in Jersey City, New Jersey, where residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of stricter regulations on short-term rentals that will almost certainly shrink the number of listings just a short train ride away from Manhattan.
Airbnb plans to go public in 2020, joining a series of tech companies that have made public stock offerings, with varying levels of success. Asked Wednesday about an IPO versus a direct listing, Chesky was noncommittal, saying, “I certainly don’t have any news to make.” But, he added, “We also don’t need to raise new money.”
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source: news.abs-cbn.com
KAARST, Germany - IKEA will expand tests to allow customers to rent desks and sofas rather than buy them as it shifts away from selling low-cost disposable furniture in response to growing environmental concerns.
The world’s biggest furniture group first said it was looking into furniture leasing in February. It fleshed out its plans on Wednesday at an event held at its first 'sustainable' store in Kaarst, western Germany, opened in 2017.
"Testing out opportunities for leasing offers is one of the ways we are challenging ourselves to deliver on our transformation strategy," said Jesper Brodin, chief executive of Ingka Group, which owns most IKEA stores.
"Climate change and unsustainable consumption are among the biggest challenges we face in society."
IKEA's move towards supporting a more circular economy comes as many young consumers say they want to minimize their impact on the environment, preferring to rent items ranging from clothing to cars.
Its business model has already come under pressure from the rise of online retail and a growing reluctance among younger shoppers to travel to its vast out-of-town stores, get the flat-pack furniture home and assemble it themselves.
Rent the Runway, which has previously only rented out designer apparel and accessories, said last month it will partner with Williams-Sonoma Inc's West Elm brand to allow subscribers to rent home decor.
IKEA, which had global sales of 39 billion euros ($44 billion) last year, said it wants to develop subscription-based leasing offers to encourage products to be reused as many times as possible before being recycled.
It had already committed to make all its products from renewable and recycled materials by 2030 and also to design all its products to be reused, repaired and recycled. In 2018 it handled 1 million orders for spare parts to repair products.
IKEA has already started testing different furniture rental projects in the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Poland, and aims to expand the tests to all its 30 markets next year.
In Sweden and Switzerland, it is looking into providing furniture to companies on a subscription model, while in the Netherlands it is testing a rental package for students in cooperation with a housing association.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Jan Harvey)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON -- The "sharing economy" is becoming mainstream with the anticipated stock listings from services such as Uber, Lyft and Airbnb, signs that the trend is gaining momentum and impacting multiple sectors.
These multibillion-dollar online platforms have already been a disruptive force in many economic segment, and analysts say the public listings may be a watershed moment, likely to fuel even more changes.
The growth in these on-demand services is eroding sentiment for ownership of homes, cars and other goods, and is also shifting the concept of labor and employment, sparking fierce debates on whether the change is good or bad.
Lyft, the large US ride-hailing service and Uber rival, became the first to announce its initial public offering, seeking to expand a firm valued privately at more than $15 billion.
There has already been an explosion of startups for sharing cars, bikes, scooters, housing and more services. The office rental sector is being transformed by co-working spaces like WeWork, now valued at some $45 billion.
"This is just the beginning for the sharing economy," said Arun Sundararajan, a New York University professor who follows the sector.
"I think we'll see large platforms for professional services for certain kinds of health care, and perhaps for alternative energy," he said.
Spending for "on demand" on services such as Uber and Airbnb and other digital platforms rose 58 percent in 2017 to $75.7 billion in the US, with more than 41 million consumers participating, according to a survey by Rockbridge Associates.
Rockbridge founder Charles Colby cautions, however, that the sizzling growth may cool.
"I don't see these firms as the next Amazon or Apple, because they are carving out narrow marketplaces and will start experiencing competition from traditional providers, some of which are quite savvy," he said.
Sharing economy firms have also sparked their share of controversy. Uber and Lyft have faced protests and challenges from traditional taxi operators and some regulators have banned or limited ridesharing. Airbnb has also been curtailed in some markets amid complaints over disruptions in the real estate markets and the hotel sector.
PRIVATE CARS VANISHING?
In transportation, some analysts argue the sharing trend is moving at a breakneck pace that will radically change urban landscapes, in line with the vision of firms such as Uber and Lyft to sharply reduce the need for private vehicles.
Tech research firm RethinkX predicts that the number of cars in the United States will drop by more than 80 percent by 2020 and 95 percent of travel will be using on-demand autonomous electric vehicles.
By gaining access to capital on Wall Street, sharing economy firms may be able to grow even bigger and flex their power more in disrupting traditional kinds of services.
The IPOs suggest that the sharing economy "is ready for prime time," said Saif Benjaafar, director of the University of Minneota's Initiative on the Sharing Economy.
"Lyft and Uber have demonstrated the operational viability of the business model: the ability to execute at scale and in different markets. What remains to be seen is to what extent these operational capabilities can now be leveraged to achieve financial profitability."
Benjaafar noted that Uber and Lyft have piled up huge losses while Airbnb has been profitable, they revolve around the same concept.
These firms "demonstrated the viability of businesses built around the concept of trust among strangers," Benjaafar told AFP.
"They also showed... how rapid growth can be achieved by being asset-light, and instead tapping into existing assets with excess capacity, and relying on an independent and contingent workforce."
WORKER ANGST
That feature -- the contingent workforce -- is one of the main targets of criticism of the online platforms.
These services upend the notion of traditional employment: backers say this leads to more flexible work arrangements and entrepreneurship, while critics argue it destroys the benefits and security available in most conventional jobs.
A 2018 study by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment found that most ride-hailing drivers worked full time and supported their families from that income.
The study also found 44 percent had difficulty paying for work or vehicles expenses, and that most wanted an organization to demand improvements in wages and working conditions.
While many see advantages in the flexible work, on-demand drivers must find other ways to get needed benefits such as health and unemployment insurance.
Sundararajan said one of the main challenges for the sharing economy will be what happens to the "social safety net" which includes benefits such as health insurance, sick leave and retirement.
He said the current social contract established in the 20th century revolves around traditional employment.
"In 20 years when we look back at this, if we can do a good job of refashioning our social safety net to be tailored for this new economy, that is going to be central to whether we see this transition as good or bad," Sundararajan said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Ikea on Thursday announced a deal to acquire on-demand help startup TaskRabbit as the world's largest furniture retailer grabbed a seat in the online sharing economy.
TaskRabbit provides an online platform where people can hire freelance labor for anything from fixing leaky plumbing or assembling furniture to picking up groceries or waiting in queues outside Apple stores to buy iPhones on launch days.
Since being founded 9 years ago, San Francisco-based TaskRabbit has spread to 40 US cities and London, according to the company.
"Through our unique on-demand platform, TaskRabbit is making life better for both consumers and Taskers," startup chief executive Stacy Brown-Philpot said.
TaskRabbit expected the merger with IKEA Group to result in a broader array of services being offered and the potential for "taskers" to make more money.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. TaskRabbit will continue to operate as an independent company, according to Ikea, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands.
Late last year, Ikea successfully tested making TaskRabbit talent available to help Ikea customers assemble newly bought furniture.
"In a fast changing retail environment, we continuously strive to develop new and improved products and services to make our customers' lives a little bit easier," Ikea chief executive Jesper Brodin said in the joint release.
"Entering the on-demand, sharing economy enables us to support that."
Ikea planned to make TaskRabbit services available to customers after the acquisition is completed.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
