About 200 Airbnb rental properties have opened in Orange in just two years – sparking a row with bed and breakfast operators who say their turnover has slumped by 30 per cent.
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Brand Orange executive officer Rhonda Sear said about 130 entire houses and 80 rooms are available for visitors to rent, mostly for weekends, via the Airbnb online booking system.
“That’s nought to 130 in the last two years,” Ms Sear said.
She said people were buying properties in Orange just to rent them out to tourists, mainly from Sydney, on Airbnb.
“More and more people are investing in property to list on Airbnb because they are providing strong returns.”
Ms Sear said some people were moving out of their homes on weekends to host Airbnb clients while others stayed in their house and rented out a room.
“Because of the growth in visitation to our region Airbnb has been able to provide accommodation when demand is high.”
While bed and breakfast providers said Airbnbs were unregulated and in direct competition to them Ms Sear does not agree.
“At the end of the day Airbnb should not be viewed as competition – it’s just another form of accommodation.
“It is a reservation system, it is an international system and it is quite a sophisticated system.
“You can look at all the reviews of people who have previously used that property.”
Airbnb provider Trish Walker has bought and renovated a four bedroom, two bathroom house in McLachlan Street to provide tourist accommodation mainly for weekend visitors.
“It’s fantastic,” she said.
“I’ve been booked out every weekend since I put it onto Airbnb in December.
“And I have bookings going through to October.”
Mrs Walker charges $550 a night and Sydney people are happy to pay it.
“Easily, it’s nothing for them when they have four couples staying there.”
She said she operated it as a business and paid the appropriate taxes.
Gordon Muir was one of the first people in Orange to join Airbnb about four years ago and rents out a room of his East Orange house about six times a year.
Mr Muir said he was originally part of a scheme that provided free accommodation to visitors before Airbnb started.
“We don’t do it for the money, we do it for the social contact,” he said.
“You are in control, you can advertise on Airbnb for 52 weeks a year and you can block out the weeks you don’t want bookings.”
However, John Gransden, a bed and breakfast operator and president of Stay Orange, the umbrella organisation for Orange’s five bed and breakfasts and 23 apartments and cottages, said Airbnb was affecting them.
“Definitely, we have seen a 30 per cent drop in turnover,” he said.
“We certainly see it as competition and it is coming from a non-regulated source.
“It is just like Uber, [the online cab hire business that competes with traditional taxis] being a disruptive business.”
Mr Gransden said Airbnbs did not have to meet requirements bed and breakfast operators had to follow including obtaining council approval, having public liability insurance and installing hard-wired smoke alarms.
“You can open one in your back room tonight,” he said.
Mr Gransden said it was not the end of bed and breakfasts.
“There’s certainly a segment of the market that feel secure in having hosted accommodation, particularly the older people.”
He said bed and breakfasts were one of the few forms of accommodation to provide night managers.
Mr Gransden said bed and breakfast accommodation cost about $235 per night for a couple.
He said apartments and cottages were still well-patronised and Stay Orange provided support.
“We work as a pack, we network very well,” he said.
- Do you rent your house or a room via Airbnb? Or have you used it to stay in Orange? Give us your comments and let us know what your experience was like.