Airbnb exec: home-sharing is so big “no army could ever stop it”
Yesterday in Paris, thousands of Airbnb hosts filled an auditorium to hear from various company executives. Predictably, there were many memorable soundbites, but perhaps the most audacious came from Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s Head of Public Policy, who declared: “Home sharing is a big idea…So big that no army could ever really stop it. You are on the side of history.” This comes after yesterday’s news that Airbnb will now work with cities by “sharing some data with governments and getting hosts to agree to a policy of listing only their permanent homes.” However, not everyone is buying in to this apparent about-face from Airbnb. Notably, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called Airbnb’s new corporate stance “a transparent ploy by Airbnb to act like a good corporate citizen when it is anything but. The company has all of the information and tools it needs to clean up its act. Until it does, no one should take this press release seriously.”

PARIS -- “Together we’re moving to a new reality, a day when home sharing is embraced by every city around the planet,” said Belinda Johnson, Airbnb’s chief business affairs and legal officer, on stage at the Airbnb Open(opens in a new tab) on Thursday.

The thousands of Airbnb "hosts" filling this auditorium, here from more than 100 countries around the world, greeted the regulatory prediction with thunderous applause.

To hear the company tell it, the battles Airbnb has faced in cities and states around the world have not been a result of the company’s disregard of local laws -- but instead a misunderstanding.

“People say, 'I don’t want strangers in my building. I don’t want Airbnb in my neighborhood,'” said CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky during the event's keynote. “They do not understand us."

The #AirbnbOpen is huge and it's about to begin(opens in a new tab) A photo posted by Seth Porges (@sethporges) on Nov 12, 2015 at 12:06am PST

The concepts of “us” -- as in Airbnb hosts and fans -- and “they” -- as in politicians, regulators and really anyone who does not believe in this company-as-lifestyle -- was a recurring theme during the keynote at the second annual conference for hosts, held this year in Paris.

Bonjour! Welcome to Paris, and to #AirbnbOpen(opens in a new tab) 2015. pic.twitter.com/BqLC3CgHSF(opens in a new tab)— Airbnb (@Airbnb) November 12, 2015(opens in a new tab)

Paris now has the most listings on the service than any other city in the world, which was highlighted by the city's deputy mayor in charge of tourism, Jean-François Martin, who also spoke during the keynote. Martin was a visible reminder that, despite previous disputes(opens in a new tab), Airbnb has won over Paris officials.

The company’s recent initiatives, including the announcement this week that Airbnb will pay local hotel taxes and work with policymakers, as opposed to against them, sound like an acknowledgement that previous approaches have been too antagonistic. However, the acknowledgement comes with a side of hubris.

“Home sharing is a big idea,” Chris Lehane, Airbnb’s head of public policy and former Clinton White House staffer, said to the Open audience. “So big that no army could ever really stop it. You are on the side of history.”

Do you hear that, policymakers? Airbnb is going to work with you -- whether you like it or not.

The message and the reality

There is little room for debate at the Open at Paris' Parc de la Villette, as these thousands of Airbnb superhosts are the choir and they clearly enjoy the preaching.

"I hope that people when they see Airbnb they understand it’s not about a space, it’s about a host," said Chesky, again to applause. "Being a host, I think a lot of times, we’re misunderstood. Not only are we sometimes misunderstood, sometimes we are even attacked."

Lovely dinner with 6 new friends last night from Austria, Norway, Panama, USA & Italy. The world is an amazing place! #AirbnbOpen(opens in a new tab) @Airbnb(opens in a new tab)— Laurie McDonald (@LaurieMcDonald) November 12, 2015(opens in a new tab)

Super crazy excited about #AirbnbOpen(opens in a new tab) in Paris this week. So many interesting sessions! Hosting tips, safety, even making towel animals. :)— April Rinne (@aprilrinne) November 9, 2015(opens in a new tab)

The hosts, including the approximately 5,000 gathered in the Grande Halle during the morning's keynote, are more than revenue generators: They are how Airbnb expects to win over the many local and regional municipalities where "home sharing" is contentious.

Indeed, the hosts represent the image that Airbnb would like everyone to see: Honest, individual, friendly and welcoming people who are not running large businesses or illegal hotels, but who have opened their own homes to travelers in order to grow a global community -- oh, and maybe make some money, too.

For a company valued at $24 billion(opens in a new tab), the topic of money is complicated.

Chesky and other company representatives tout the ability of the service to help hosts stay in their own homes; there is a clear attempt to get on the same side as affordable housing advocates: “Affordable housing is in the roots of our company," said Chesky. "In the sense that Joe (Gebbia) and I had a house that we couldn’t afford, so we started Air Bed and Breakfast."

"We don’t want to be part of the problem. We want to be, and we think we are, part of the solution.”

But what is left unaddressed is that if so many people are renting out their homes to supplement their income, perhaps it is not about opening their hearts to travelers: Perhaps it is economic necessity: in major cities like New York and San Francisco and Paris, a desperate grasp at remaining in a middle class.

What is also left unaddressed is the issue of entire home rentals. In Paris, the most popular city on the service, 93% of hosts have only one listing, according to the company -- a statistic they say proves the point that hosts are regular people. But 84.1% of listings in the city are entire home rentals, according to independent Airbnb data collection site Inside Airbnb(opens in a new tab).

Where are all those regular people going while their entire apartments are being rented to tourists?

Moving forward

Airbnb seems to want to be something other than what it is.

It isn’t that the ideal -- a global community of travelers who care more about turning strangers into friends than making a buck -- doesn’t exist: It does, but there are no clear statistics on how many hosts are meeting with visitors, showing them new cities through a local's eyes, and ensuring that tourists are as respectful of neighborhoods as most locals are. The reality in cities, states and countries around the world is much more complicated, impacted by local economies and housing markets, and by the individual circumstances of the more than 1 million hosts on the global platform.

Can an ideal win over policymakers while the larger data set makes for uneasy questions?

Airbnb hopes so -- and it hopes its superhosts can win some of the battles for themselves.

After last week's regulatory victory in San Francisco(opens in a new tab), the company announced a plan for hosts to organize into 100 Home Sharing Clubs in 100 cities in 2016, in order to lobby for regulations more amenable to what Airbnb offers.

Some of the groups have already formed, and many of the regulatory battles -- at least in larger cities like Amsterdam and Portland -- have already provided early victories. But as Johnson, Airbnb's chief business affairs and legal officer, said, there's a long way to go.

"Our company is different from most companies," Chesky said in a (very brief) press briefing at the Open. "Our product at the end of the day isn't technology. Our technology is a platform. What we actually offer are our hosts."

At the event, company officials spoke to the audience of hosts about how the matter at hand is one of understanding, about how explaining "home sharing" can open doors to regulatory acceptance, and that the Airbnb Open is not about the platform, it's all about the hosts.

Airbnb needs them.