Alternatives to Airbnb? Try Fairbnb

Today we bring you a guest post by Sito Veracruz, founder of Fairbnb, an alternative to Airbnb that aims to limit the negative impact of tourist rentals on cities.

It is a fact that tourist dwellings are the preferred form of accommodation for a large part of travelers in recent years. In addition to being a new type of experience, peer-to-peer rentals allow some of the benefits that tourism brings to fall into the pockets of more actors than usual businesses.

However, it is also a fact that vacation rentals have a new impact on neighborhoods and that on many occasions these rentals do not have the proper licenses, which is leading administrations to regulate this activity.

In cities like Amsterdam or Venice we know quite a bit about this problem. Several of us were thinking back in 2016 about possible regulations that would allow a balance between an activity that we like and sustainability at a social and environmental level in our cities. And then we thought, what if the solution didn't just come from the administrations? What if there was a socially responsible platform that took into account the negative impact of rentals and encouraged the positive impact of tourism? What would a “Fairbnb” platform be like?

Fairbnb is a sustainable and cooperative alternative to Airbnb

We got to work and two years later we are about to launch the pilot project of the Fairbnb platform in several European cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Valencia, Bologna and Venice.

The main differences between Fairbnb and other platforms are essentially three:

• 100% legality and collaboration with local councils: beyond the rules of each region or city, our platform has a global '1 host, 1 home' policy.
• Promotion of social projects: 50% of the commission from our rentals goes to social projects selected by the neighborhood community itself - thus allowing the return of the benefit.
• Cooperative model: Fairbnb is legally established as a cooperative, in which salaries are limited; and socially through local nodes with decision-making power in local matters.

Our goal is to limit the negative impact of tourism and increase the positive one while creating community and combating gentrification. To do this, we need responsible guests and travelers, as well as citizens interested in the good of their city, are you in?

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