Airbnb has become a billion-dollar business because they have done what all smart capitalists do: they saw a need in the market and figured out a way to fill it. Over the last few years, they have developed a service that people love, particularly millennials, and found a way to sidestep the excessive taxation placed on conventional hotels.
In 2014, Inc. named Airbnb “Company of the Year,” calling the home-sharing empire “disruptive, brazen, and overall brilliant.” Their popularity and many accolades have catapulted Airbnb into becoming the biggest lodging provider on Earth, and the money keeps pouring in.
But what most people don’t know is that the owners of Airbnb have a side agenda that runs contrary to the free market success of the company. The company is operated by liberal Democrats who are dedicated to “serving the needy.” However, in reality, they are sticking it to the wealthy around the world. There are not enough conservatives in management to create a more balanced approach to serving the needs of their customers.
After endorsing Hillary Clinton’s billion-dollar campaign, her loss became Airbnb’s loss. As committed liberals, Airbnb employs people who think and believe as they do. It is still unfathomable to them that Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Hillary Clinton. And now that sense of disbelief has turned into a thirst for revenge.
It’s ironic that a company that has so fully embraced the spirit of the American Dream would also work to deny others the same opportunity. Airbnb’s creators figured out that if you offer a much-needed product at a fair price, you can make a tremendously big profit. America is one of the few places where you can still make a billion dollars by matching up people who need a certain product with someone else with that very same product. By matching up willing renters with willing hosts, they have created something amazing.
One of the key components of the American dream is free enterprise: the ability to charge whatever you want for a given product in order to have supply meet demand. The American people, who have the freedom to purchase an item or turn it down, act as the correction mechanism.
However, as demonstrated by the Hollywood elites, liberals aren’t actually interested in the American dream or capitalism. They only care about themselves and using the power of government to extort more wealth. Just spend a few mind-numbing minutes watching one of their self-aggrandizing award shows, and it is clear that in their ever-too-humble, self-righteous opinion, only they are free of all prejudices, in their world. Only they know what is best for the rest of us. The only freedom of speech they believe in is their own, and if you don’t agree with them, then you should be publicly shamed and labeled a bigot or a racist.
These Hollywood- and Silicon Valley- types are nothing more than hypocrites. For instance, Airbnb staffer Michael Barnello recently wrote a letter to LaSalle Hotel Properties bashing the company for raising prices to meet demand. “If you agree with your Chief Financial Officer and now believe that the New York law is ‘not about price or competition,’ will you unequivocally pledge to ban any and all price-gouging at your hotels?” he asked.
Just imagine the outrage of the liberal masses if it became public that Airbnb allowed their patrons to gouge renters during Obama’s inauguration by charging them twenty times more than renters attending Trump’s inauguration for the very same Washington, D.C. apartment. No doubt there would be riots in the streets and claims of racism. That didn’t really happen with Obama, but that is exactly what is happening now. The rates for Airbnb listings were sky-high for Trump’s inauguration.
What would the ‘pious’ Meryl Streep say if she knew Trump attendees were being forced to rent a standard $150 a night location for $1,800 and up? Would she get on stage and weep as she talked about the greed, injustice, and prejudice of people taking advantage of Trump supporters?
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky issued a pathetic defense of the company’s hypocritical anti-price gouging crusade on Twitter, stating, “Most of our hosts didn’t significantly raise prices. I wish none did and we give tips.” This is complete hogwash. Plenty of renters raised prices considerably. One listing was even rented out for a whopping $10,000 a night. If the company truly believed that raising prices was wrong, then they would issue a company policy that would prevent hosts from marking up their listings.
But that’s not the worst of Airbnb’s hypocrisy. A great many Airbnb hosts also discriminated against prospective renters – another “taboo” practice according to the company – by pulling their listings within hours of Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary. Huffington Post reported that some of them even bragged about not renting to Trump supporters based on their “moral principles.”
Isn’t that the same kind of illegal, prejudicial business practices that Airbnb normally rails against? How is that any different from the bakery that was run out of business for not wanting to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple based on their “moral principles”? Or country clubs that wouldn’t accept Jews? Or the restaurants of the past that refused to serve African-Americans?
Of course, some Airbnb hosts threw their moral fortitude to the wind stating they’d be happy to take advantage of Trump supporters and “gouge” them if the rates were high enough. Think of the hellfire that would erupt if Hillary had won and Airbnb refused to rent to any Clinton supporter that was gay or African-American, or Allah forbid, a Muslim? The refusing hosts would be charged with housing discrimination and hate crimes resulting in massive fines and perhaps even some jail time. However, that same type of discrimination against Trump supporters is praised by liberals and tolerated by Airbnb.
One woman who happens to be white told the Huffington Post she was particularly concerned about renting her apartment to all white men that support Trump. She had grave concerns that they would steal from her and thrash her home – because they were white? Apparently, the housing code that forbids discrimination based on color does not apply to white people.
Another host stated she had a “…visceral reaction to the thought of having a Trump supporter in my house.” Imagine the liberal reaction if the Heat Street report on the topic of hosting inaugural attendees had traded the words “Trump supporter” for African-American or gay or Muslim or liberal. Airbnb is permitting unbelievable price gouging and outright hateful anti-Trumpism throughout Washington, D.C.
Airbnb’s tolerance of their members to raise prices and discriminate despite being on the record against private sector discrimination is astounding. While there is certainly nothing wrong with these practices, those on the Left have reached a new level of hypocrisy that permits the benefits of freedom and capitalism only to those of their choosing. On the other hand, they deny it to anyone that does not fall in line with their thinking. Airbnb should quit this practice while the going is good and embrace laissez policies for all, not just their own.
