Why South African B&Bs and guest houses dislike Airbnb

De Souza said that at a minimum, Airbnbs should comply with the following laws:

  • They should obtain permission to run, or get a business licence from the municipality. The property must then be checked by town planning, and health and fire departments to ensure that there is no danger to guests.
  • Short-term home rentals must get hospitality insurance with a minimum of R30 million public liability.
  • Membership of a local tourism authority and registration with South African Tourism should be compulsory.
  • Airbnbs that offer breakfast or other meals must get a food preparation certificate and/or a business licence for preparation of perishable foods — health and safety checks on kitchens must be conducted.
  • Domestic workers must be paid in accordance with the hospitality sectoral determination. The minimum wage for this sector is higher than domestic workers.
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Ayn Rand said:
“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed.”
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Thats an oddly specific requirement, I wonder what the back story is.

" Establishments must not be allowed to use the name “breakfast” in their business name unless they serve breakfast. "
 
I have no problem with AirBnB personally. But it also causes a lot of issues. A lot of the AirBnB's feel they do not need to comply with SA laws and clauses and basically run informal, uncontrolled, unregulated, businesses. Causes also moerse issues, social and security, in complexes.


But in the way this country is run by government. That is the least of our problems.
 
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ghoti said:
Thats an oddly specific requirement, I wonder what the back story is.

" Establishments must not be allowed to use the name “breakfast” in their business name unless they serve breakfast. "
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False advertising which probably led to complaints to some tourism governing body in the past?
 
I get the impression that Airbnb operators flout many laws and tax regulations in their existence.
 
McT said:
I get the impression that Airbnb operators flout many laws and tax regulations in their existence.
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That's the way with many of these 'tech' companies. Uber and Bolt claim that they aren't taxi services, so don't need to adhere to those regulations. AirBnB feels that it doesn't need to adhere to hotel or guesthouse regulations. For me, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
 
Airbnb used to be cheap, but the past 2 years or so I found much better deals at Booking.com that I completely stopped using Airbnb. They also added hidden charges which you only see just before you book which greatly inflates the booking price. I mean seriously, extra R400 cleaning fee for 2 people? :rolleyes:
 
It's very simple I will choose the best price regardless if Airbnb or guesthouse.

hjst45 said:
Airbnb used to be cheap, but the past 2 years or so I found much better deals at Booking.com that I completely stopped using Airbnb. They also added hidden charges which you only see just before you book which greatly inflates the booking price. I mean seriously, extra R400 cleaning fee for 2 people? :rolleyes:
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Slightly off topic but started doing this with car rentals as well. I use Holidaycars.com. You will not believe difference.
 
hjst45 said:
Airbnb used to be cheap, but the past 2 years or so I found much better deals at Booking.com that I completely stopped using Airbnb. They also added hidden charges which you only see just before you book which greatly inflates the booking price. I mean seriously, extra R400 cleaning fee for 2 people? :rolleyes:
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Ditto. Going back now to traditional booking.
 
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PAYBACK said:
It's very simple I will choose the best price regardless if Airbnb or guesthouse.



Slightly off topic but started doing this with car rentals as well. I use Holidaycars.com. You will not believe difference.
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As far as I see, this just stacks up local booking companies?
 
RedViking said:
I have no problem with AirBnB personally. But it also causes a lot of issues. A lot of the AirBnB's feel they do not need to comply with SA laws and clauses and basically run informal, uncontrolled, unregulated, businesses. Causes also moerse issues, social and security, in complexes.


But in the way this country is run by government. That is the least of our problems.
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Because you need a million government regulations with dotted forms and licencing fees to rent a room out on the internet.
 
cr@zydude said:
That's the way with many of these 'tech' companies. Uber and Bolt claim that they aren't taxi services, so don't need to adhere to those regulations. AirBnB feels that it doesn't need to adhere to hotel or guesthouse regulations. For me, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
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Why do you need regulations for this?

Which would you rather trust:
A form that some government official has filled in telling you that the food at an establishment that they have never been to or inspected is prepared in a decent way, or reading a review online by someone who has actually stayed there?
Airbnbs that offer breakfast or other meals must get a food preparation certificate and/or a business licence for preparation of perishable foods — health and safety checks on kitchens must be conducted.
Click to expand...
 
konfab said:
Why do you need regulations for this?

Which would you rather trust:
A form that some government official has filled in telling you that the food at an establishment that they have never been to or inspected is prepared in a decent way, or reading a review online by someone who has actually stayed there?
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Those reviews don't mean much. We can talk about wanting smaller government, but the same regulation which applies to hotels or B&Bs should apply to AirBnB.
 
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