Só em Portugal é que o AIRBNB contínua à rédea solta sem
qualquer regulamento ou limitação ... com as conhecidas e vísiveis
consequências no direito à habitação ...
OVOODOCORVO
Airbnb took a big hit in Japan that
left thousands of travelers with no lodging
BY MARCUS GILMER
1 DAY AGO
If you're traveling to Japan in the next few weeks and you
have an Airbnb reservation, you better start looking for alternate housing
because thousands of listings have been removed thanks to a new law.
Home-sharing became legal in Japan just last year. But a new
amendment to Japan's Hotels and Inns Act (passed in 1947) now requires anyone
participating in a home-sharing (like the sort offered via Airbnb) to register
their property and include a license number in their listing before June 15.
That's all well and good, but on June 1 the Japanese
government announced any listing that did not already meet the criteria would
have all bookings made before June 15 canceled. According to the Nikkei Asian
Review, this wiped out roughly 80 percent of Airbnb's listings in Japan,
leaving those with reservations in that window high and dry.
On Thursday, Airbnb posted a statement online, calling the
sudden change a "surprise," saying it was "contrary to the
guidance our team had previously been given by the Japanese Tourism Agency
(JTA)." The company also announced that it would refund any traveler whose
booking is canceled.
As a result, any reservation scheduled for guest arrival
between June 15 and June 19 at a listing in Japan that does not currently have
a license has been cancelled. Going forward, unless the government reverses its
position, we will automatically cancel and fully refund any reservations at
listings in Japan that have not been licensed within 10 days of guest arrival.
But that still likely leaves thousands of travelers in the
lurch for new lodging. So Airbnb also announced a $10 million fund to reimburse
travelers for unexpected expenses due to cancellations. The company is also
working with a Japan-based travel agency and has opened up a support line to
give additional help to travelers affected by the cancellations.
Japan is hardly alone in doing battle with home-share
companies like Airbnb. The burgeoning industry became a flash point in San
Francisco and, more recently, Paris is cracking down on such offerings.
The new changes in Japan's law include additional
regulations, like limiting hosts to only offering their property for 180 days
each year and other locally imposed restrictions.
So even if you have travel plans to Japan that don't occur in
the immediate future, it's still worth double-checking to see how this new
tweak to the law might throw a bit of a wrench into your agenda.
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