it's as if there are more substantial factors behind soaring rents than a new business that coincidentally is undermining the ability of the established hotel business to extort the shit outta tourists (a fact which I'm sure has NO relation to all the dubious hit pieces)
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Tokyo, of course, already had tons of cheap hotel alternatives--AirBnB wasn't undercutting anyone by appearing there, it just added to the pile. More options for everyone! That's what cities are supposed to be about, fellas
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In 2014 I got into Tokyo late at night after coming all the way from Nagasaki that morning--I went to my internet cafe, and after about 30 minutes there knew I would need to find somewhere else. Too bright, people smoking, etc. I left--it was about 1 AM at the time...
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...so here I am, in the middle of the world's largest city, in the middle of the night, nowhere to stay. A quick search on google turned up dozens of available places within a few blocks. First one I checked was perfect: separate floor for smokers, suitably lit, shower/laundry...
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...and it cost me $25 for a full night. Only $18 that night because I arrived at 2 AM! The location was across from Yurakucho Station at the heart of Tokyo. Not bad for finding a place with essentially zero notice! I tried the same in NYC in 2016. Oh boy...
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...NYC has a striking shortage of hotels: absolutely no rooms under $100 that were available on zero notice, everything booked solid. After searching desperately, I found a place for about $50 a night in New Brunswick, NJ. Adding in the train and uber rides, it was abt $100/night
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...and, needless to say, was a solid hour away from downtown Manhattan. What a shitty city! Why do Americans subject themselves to this, I really wonder sometimes
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Not that I agree with it, but a lot of people I argue with cite immigration as the reason.
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pick a reason, any reason: my point is that AirBnB doesn't function in a vacuum, and it's stupid to blame it for rising rents and gentrification
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Ah yes, citylab, who write about housing and never once mention building or construction
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reading this article is reminding me how fucked new york is, one paragraph at a time
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