IN 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia came up with a wheeze to rent out two air beds in their San Francisco apartment, because a conference had left the local hotels full-to-overflowing. Thus, Airbed & Breakfast was born. Since then, the firm’s only contraction has been its name. Today, Airbnb’s website lists over 2m properties for short-term let in 191 countries. Piper Jaffray, an investment bank, estimates that bookings through the firm will reach $14.4bn in 2016, compared with $52m in 2010. Analysts think the upstart might fetch $30bn were it to be taken public. That would make Airbnb worth more than Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain.

2007年，布莱恩·切斯基（Brian Chesky）和乔·盖比亚（Joe Gebbia）突发妙想，把他们旧金山公寓的两个气垫床出租了出去，原因是当时一次大型会议使当地的酒店人满为患。于是，“空中食宿”（Airbed & Breakfast）就这样诞生了。从那时起，这个独一无二的缩写就成为该公司的名称。如今，空中食宿（Airbnb）网站上共有来自191个国家的二百多万条短租信息。据投资银行皮波·杰弗瑞（Piper Jaffray）估计，2016年空中食宿的订单金额将达到144亿美元，而2010年时该数字仅为5200万美元。市场分析人士认为，如果空中食宿上市，这家后来居上的公司市值将达到300亿美元。这将使空中食宿一举超过世界最大的连锁酒店万豪集团（Marriott）。

But legislation signed in New York state on October 21st has taken some of the puff out of Airbnb’s mattress. New York City is the firm’s largest market in America, with around 35,000 properties available for rent. But many of the hosts offer their apartments illegally. In 2010, the state passed a law banning rentals of whole units in residential blocks for less than 30 days. (It is legal to do so if the tenant is living there at the same time.) To encourage people to comply, Andrew Cuomo, the state governor, approved fines for those who flout the rules of $1,000 for a first offence, rising to $7,500 for recidivists.

然而，纽约州10月21日签署的法律打压了空中食宿的发展势头。纽约市是空中食宿在美国的最大市场——该城市有大约三万五千套房源对外出租。不过，很多房主的出租行为并不合法。2010年，纽约州通过一项法律，禁止居民区少于30天的整租。（如果有其它租户同居，则是合法的）为了督促人们遵守该法律，纽约州州长安德鲁·科莫（Andrew Cuomo）同意对首次违反者罚款1000美元，向再次违反者罚款7500美元。

The bill will severely limit Airbnb’s ability to operate in the city. At issue is the way that its business model has evolved. The firm was conceived as a marketplace to rent a spare room to tourists. Entrepreneurs, however, quickly spied a more lucrative opportunity: acquiring a portfolio of empty properties and offering them as a direct, often cheaper, competitor to hotels. According to data gathered by Tom Slee, author of “What’s Yours Is Mine”, a book on the sharing economy, 27% of Airbnb listings in New York are offered by people who own multiple properties (see chart).

该法案极大地限制了空中食宿在纽约的运营。空中食宿的商业模式也存在争议。公司原本在游客拼租市场占有一席之地。然而，创业人士很快发现了更赚钱的机会：收购一系列空房源直接出租，价格通常比酒店便宜，而且更有竞争力。共享经济图书《你的就是我的》（What’s Yours Is Mine）的作者汤姆·丝力（Tom Slee）所收集的数据显示，在纽约空中食宿中，有27%的房主都拥有多套房源（见图表）。

Locals complain that Airbnb guests, filled with the holiday spirit, can be noisy and inconsiderate neighbours. Worse, they say that as apartments are scooped up by investors to be rented out on a short-term basis, residents are forced out of town. Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University and author of “The Sharing Economy”, thinks this idea is overplayed. Pressure on housing stock in New York, he says, is affected more by population increase and rent controls than sharing-economy rentals. But not everyone agrees. According to Mr Slee, while Airbnb may indeed have a limited impact on a city in aggregate, for those who live in neighbourhoods that become Airbnb hotspots such effects are all too real.

当地居民抱怨，这些空中食宿的租客们带着度假的心情，吵吵闹闹，一点也不顾及他人。他们表示，更糟糕的是，投资商抢购公寓进行短租，迫使本地居民搬出城市。纽约大学教授、《共享经济》作者阿伦·孙达健（Arun Sundararajan）认为这种观点言过其实。他表示，纽约房市的压力更多来自于人口的增长和租房的管制，而非合租。不过，不是所有人都同意他的观点。在斯力看来，空中食宿对城市的总体影响的确有限，不过，对空中食宿集中区附近的居民来说，影响却是真切的。

Still, some worry that Mr Cuomo has bowed to pressure from powerful vested interests, including hotel lobbyists and unions. The occupancy rate in New York’s hotels is close to 90%, among the highest in the country. Limited supply means premium prices and such advantages are jealously guarded. A study commissioned by the Hotel Association of New York found that people switching to Airbnb will directly cost its members around $780m in the city in 2016. It projects that by 2018 that will rise to over $1bn a year. Professional Airbnb hosts, say industry groups, should be classed as hoteliers, pay taxes as such and comply with the relevant health and safety regulations.

尽管如此，还是有些人担心科莫是迫于旅馆说客和联盟等权势集团的压力。纽约市的酒店入住率接近90%，居美国第一。酒店数量有限，这意味着价格高昂，而这些优势都让人谨慎地守护。纽约酒店协会的一项调查显示，2016年，人们选择空中食宿将给协会内的纽约酒店带来7.8亿美元的损失。预计截止2018年，损失将达到10亿美元。空中食宿的专业房东们，比如一些行业集团，应该被归为旅店老板， 并交付相应的税款，遵守相关健康安全规定。

Airbnb is challenging the state law on the grounds that, as an online marketplace, it is not responsible for the content that others place on its site. (The state counters it is going after the hosts, not the site.) The firm has a good case, reckons Mr Sundararajan. Firms such as YouTube and Facebook have already invoked such a defence successfully. But perhaps the greater danger is that other cities will feel emboldened to craft their own restrictions. Last year Airbnb agreed to require people in San Francisco who rent out their entire homes to register with the city, and to cap the number who can do so. But when few hosts signed up, the city decided to apply more pressure, with fines of $1,000 a day for each unregistered San Francisco host on the site.

空中食宿挑战了州法律，因为空中食宿作为线上市场，并没有对人们在该网站登出的内容负责。（纽约州反驳称，其只针对房东，不针对空中食宿网站）孙达健预计，空中食宿可以诉讼成功。因为Youtube和Facebook等企业都成功地赢得了了这一类起诉案件。不过，其它城市也会大胆地精心调整对他们的限制，这可能会造成更大的危险。去年，空中食宿同意要求旧金山的整租房东们在市内登记，并要求他们限制租客人数。但是，由于很少房东登记，旧金山决定进一步施压，对在网站上未注册的房东每人每天罚款1000美元。

Europe has acquired a similar taste for regulation. Earlier this year, Berlin banned most short-term apartment lettings in response to a dearth of residential housing and the unsociable behaviour of lessees. Hosts flouting the rules face a €100,000 ($109,000) fine. (As with New York, those renting out a portion of their own apartments are unaffected.) According to Mr Slee’s data, the proportion of serial hosts in Berlin listing on Airbnb has fallen from 36% in 2014 to 20% today.

欧洲也采取了类似监管措施。此前，柏林禁止公寓短租，以解决城市住房稀缺和租户行为不端的问题。违反法律的房东将被罚款10万欧元（合10.9万美元）。（和纽约一样，只出租公寓内部分房间的房东不受该法律影响。）斯力的数据显示，柏林空中食宿网站上房东批量出租房屋的比例从2014年的36%下降到如今的20%。

In Barcelona, meanwhile, authorities have threatened to fine the firm €600,000 for such illegal listings and required hosts to obtain a licence. Ada Colau, the city’s mayor, was elected after promising to rein in holiday rentals. Not all cities see Airbnb as a curse. London, which has some 47,000 Airbnb-listed properties, has talked up the advantages of encouraging sharing-economy accommodation, particularly for its unfashionable outer boroughs where few hotel tourists ever venture.

同时，巴塞罗那地方政府也扬言要向非法出租房屋者征收60万欧元罚款，还要求房东申请营业执照。巴塞罗那市长阿达·克劳（Ada Colau）在选举时承诺加强度假租房管理，之后成功当选市长。并非所有城市都把空中食宿视为是大麻烦。在伦敦，空中食宿网站有大约4.7万个房源。伦敦市十分鼓励合租，尤其针对旅游酒店行业不景气的伦敦外围区域。

【更多阅读】

共享经济新把戏：家庭共享宠物小狗

编译：方壵

审校：杨云天

编辑：翻吧君

英文来源：经济学人