Welcome to my Airbnb.

My name is Zane. Alan, right?

Actually, it's Adam.

Weird, never heard that name before.

Let me show you around.

There's the bathroom.

I provide everything except toilet paper.

Before toilet paper, some Americans used corn cobs.

Okay, uh, over here, I have a ton of DVDs.

So, I hope you brought your DVD player.

This is the bedroom.

I painted these.

Yeah, this whole place is like a gallery of my own art.

Man, Airbnb rules.

Yeah. It sure does.

Apart from the massive legal liability, of course.

Lia, what now?

Well, Airbnb would have us believe it's a hospitality

utopia and better than a hotel in every way.

But the fact is, their business model endangers guests,

enables crooks and could leave you on the hook

for anything I do here.

But I thought they insured me or whatever.

Not always.

In many cases, Airbnb has refused to pay for damages.

One guest crammed a bunch of stuff down the owner's toilet,

causing $10,000 in damage.

(plopping)

(flushing)

But Airbnb only offered to pay 78 bucks.

Hey!

I'm sorry.

You know, I'm realizing this is a pattern of behavior.

In another case, a guest refused to leave the property.

And became a squatter.

This is my house now!

After Airbnb wouldn't help,

the host was forced to hire an expensive lawyer to evict them.

I've been here so long

that my skin fused to your laundry basket.

(laughing)

But the risks guests take is even worse.

Hotels are required to undergo routine safety inspections.

But no one checks Airbnbs for working sprinklers,

fire alarms,

(clicking)

carbon monoxide detectors

or fire exits.

What the--

I told you that's art.

Airbnb will actually send a photographer

to take pictures of your house...

(grunts)

But they don't send anyone to make sure that it's safe.

In 2013, at least six Airbnb guests

suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, and one of them died.

Oh.

And we don't even know the total number of people who have

been hurt because Airbnb refuses to release the numbers.

Well, you take your chances when you get a deal this good.

Yeah, you do, but not everyone gets the same deal.

Airbnb let you see my name and picture

before you approved me, right?

They sure did.

Well, Sears does wonderful work.

The problem is this enables discrimination.

One study found that guests with black sounding names

were 16% less likely to be approved as Airbnb guests.

Wait, was that white family lying

when they said I couldn't stay with them?

(gasping)

Was there no emergency yoga retreat?

I'm afraid not.

Nondiscrimination in hotels

was something the civil rights movement fought for for decades.

That's why in a traditional hotel,

this kind of treatment is illegal.

But at Airbnb, the bad old days are back again.

That is so (bleep) up.

Yeah, it is.

And it doesn't end there.

Because Airbnb is particularly bad for cities.

If landlords had their way,

they would make every apartment a vacation rental.

Of course I would.https://tw.voicetube.com/translate/7377#

Tourists pay a lot more than tenants.

But that drives up my rent.

I can't afford to live in a dang hotel.

(Adam) So, to protect residents, cities passed laws

that limit vacation rentals in apartment buildings.

(siren blares)

Problems is, Airbnb doesn't respect those laws.

A 2014 report found that nearly three out of four Airbnb rentals

in New York City were illegal.

I'm not a criminal, I'm an artist.

Sure, you may be an artist,

but a lot of Airbnb hosts are con artists.

Zane, this is Roy Samaan.

He researches housing issues at LAANE,

a Los Angeles based advocacy group.

Adam's right, Airbnb is used

heavily by shady characters who use the service

to run illegal hotel chains.

They take out multiple leases in different buildings

and Airbnb those units year round.

(man) I just making little cash when I'm out of town.

(Adam) These jerks take critical residential housing

out of the market which drives up rent for all of us.

And Airbnb does nothing to stop 'em.

There was even a case in L.A. where a landlord

evicted an entire apartment building

so he could rent out the rooms on Airbnb.

Left unregulated, Airbnb can destroy entire neighborhoods.

I don't know, bro.

Is it on Airbnb to control what their users do?

Airbnb is a big tech company

and they can filter out illegal listings very easily.

Instead, they're putting the burden on us and on cities

to go one by one and sue these landlords to make sure

they're not breaking the law, and that just isn't fair.

Thanks, Roy.

Hey, Adam, can I come in?

My arms are getting really tired.

Oh, it's not actually my place, so...

I don't know you, bro.

(window closes, Roy screams)

Not only does Airbnb know about these crooks,

they actually take a cut.

I can't believe we let them get away with this.

If three out of four Craigslist users were using the site

to commit murder, we'd be, like,

"Somebody stop that murder website?!

I want them killed with a knife, oh,

from behind for under $100 a stab.

Not only does Airbnb profit from illegal activity,

they've even secretly purged the records

of illegal listings from data they've released

to make it look like it's not happening.

Wow.

That's not icy.

That's straight-up dicey.

It's a shame because Airbnb actually provides

a valuable service.

Like, in remote areas that don't have hotels.

But they also need to be a good neighbor.

And right now, they're doing the opposite.

Damn.

Thanks, Alan.

It's Adam, and no problem.

I can rest easy tonight

knowing I've taught one person the truth.

You're not staying here.

I cancelled the reservation five minutes ago.

You blew up my toilet, remember?

But where will I stay now?!

I don't know, man, sleep on the street.

Well, everything we know about homelessness is wrong.

I could talk about that.