The Tide is Turning: Canadians Concerned About Airbnb’s Impact
This week, the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) released new research highlighting that Canadians from coast to coast have serious reservations about the impact of short-term rentals, like Airbnb, on their communities. This follows an Angus Reid Institute report released this past April, suggesting similar sentiment from the Canadians in regards to short-term rentals.
Overall, more than 57% of Albertans are concerned or somewhat concerned about a neighbouring home being regularly rented out through an online short-term rental platform like Airbnb. This concern is shared across the country, with the highest levels coming from respondents in Ontario (69%) and British Columbia (65%). This is driven primarily by the perceived unfavourable impacts on neighbourhood quality of life and on personal safety. Interestingly, these concerns were shared across age groups, including among millennials.
This study comes as governments across Canada, including Edmonton, Calgary, and Canmore, are considering regulations and licensing requirements for online short-term rental platforms. The Hotel Association of Canada in partnership with the AHLA recently released best practices guidelines for such regulations, including platform and host registration, taxation, minimum health and safety requirements, and limits on how frequently homes can be rented. These recommendations a part of a larger conversation we had with Members of Parliment in Ottawa this week to highlight the need for sensible, fair rules around short-term rental platforms, including taxation and platform regulation.