Consumers are willing to pay way more to rent a room (or a car) for a day than 1&#x2F;365th of what they are willing&#x2F;able to pay for a full year.<p>Airbnb makes that matchmaking easier (on both parties), and in exchange takes a 9-15% cut.<p>Property owners who used to be forced to choose between offering 1-year lease or trying to piece together some mid-term rentals (and suffer vacancies in-between) now have an additional choice: take ~85% of the much higher daily rate people are willing to pay.<p>I agree it&#x27;s perhaps made that specific pattern of consumption more expensive, but IMO, it&#x27;s done that by making the overall market more efficient.