Call for regulation as Airbnb grows fast in Christchurch

Monday, 4 December 2017

The tourist industry has called for action to regulate private guest accommodation, with new figures revealing a fifth of Christchurch's visitor bookings are now made through Airbnb.

Over 2000 accommodation options in the city were with Airbnb hosts in the year to September, according to figures from promotional and economic development agency ChristchurchNZ. 

The figure has doubled in a year.

Airbnb is a global peer-to-peer website launched in the United States a decade ago allowing visitors to book privately-owned homes or rooms listed by their owners.

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When combined with traditional guest accommodation such as hotel, motels and lodges, the numbers show the number of people staying in Christchurch has bounced back to pre-earthquake levels. 

Tourism Industry Aotearoa hotel sector manager Susan Attfield was surprised at the figures for private hosting and called for a level playing field.

'We recognise sites like Airbnb give consumers a wider choice,' she said.

'But they (Airbnb listings) are not regulated in the way commercial accommodation providers are. There are not the same safety standards for fire and health and safety.

'Are they paying their share of taxes and rates? There's a difference between residential and commercial rates – that's something for the Christchurch City Council to consider.'

Other centres including Auckland and Queenstown have moved to regulate private accommodation booked through sites such as Airbnb.

Queenstown has proposed Airbnb homes rented for more than a set number of weeks will need to obtain consents, while Auckland is considering widening a tax levied on hotels and motels to Airbnb properties rented out frequently.

Compared with Christchurch's 20 per cent, Auckland has 32.5 percent of its accommodation booked through Airbnb and Queenstown has 10 per cent. The data comes from Airbnb analyst service AirDNA, and Statistics New Zealand's tally of commercially provided accommodation including hotel rooms or motel units.

The number of new or reopened hotels and motels in Christchurch is rising, and some struggled with low occupancy levels this winter.

Hospitality New Zealand spokeswoman Rachael Shadbolt said it was heartening that councils were looking at the impact of alternative accommodation like Airbnb, but a proper industry-wide discussion was needed at a national level.

'Our fear is that without a proper conversation . . . all we are going to see is more and more councils doing targeted rates because that's the only way they can generate any money for tourism infrastructure, and that's a problem.'

ChristchurchNZ's general manager of marketing, Rowan Worner, said the increasing use of Airbnb meant visitors had more accommodation options in the city.

'We know there are lots of different types of travellers, who require different types of accommodation and this growth is obviously filling a need.'

ChristchurchNZ chief executive Joanna Norris said the new figures showed how innovation and technology were having an impact on traditional accommodation sectors.

She said Airbnb was 'a clear example of a disrupter', where consumer demand supported by technology drove change at exponential rates.

'Businesses that create opportunities off the back of disrupters are those that will flourish,' Norris said.

'It's about being agile and responding or anticipating to changes like this fast.'

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