Fairbnb.coop is officially coming in September 2019
Changes in national regulations about short term rentals and delays in funding had a serious impact on our plans but we are still heading for delivery at the end of this summer.
So go ahead and keep on registering and sharing our vision. Fairbnb.coop is definitely coming and the more people that join us from your area the sooner we will be able to activate your destination.
We knew from the start that making a cooperative platform from scratch is not an easy task: to foster the development of an open, democratic, healthy and efficient living organism is required an enormous level of commitment, focus, resources and time but we met some roadblocks on our route to delivery.
Until now Fairbnb.coop has been self funded by its members with a first input of capital of €100.000 that kept the project going until now and much needed help from our crowdfunders from all around the world. According to our plans more vital, substantial resources should have arrived in May allowing us to deliver the first basic release of our platform in late June as previously announced. Unfortunately, these resources suffered an unexpected delay that stretched from weeks to months making them available only after Summer; we managed to keep our basic activities going, stretched our funds and held on to our dream. Nevertheless, this delay is forcing us to move the final date of the first release in the pilot cities where we are located (Venice, Bologna, Genoa, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Valencia) forward.
On top of this in Italy there’s been quite an interesting turn of events in the field of regulation of short term rentals. From the 1st of August a new law will come in full force that will oblige all tourist accommodations, including short term rentals, to apply to a public register in order to obtain an identification number that by law has to be displayed on all places, online and offline, where the accommodation is put on offer.
This code will be shared with the Tax Office and Local Administration making it nearly impossible for unlawful accommodations to sell their services; the website that will display an accommodation without clearly displaying the aforementioned code could be fined from €500 to €5.000 for each “forgetful” listing. This is a major step forward in making the all Short Term rental market in Italy almost fraud proof, but obviously requires that all online booking platforms, big or small, comply and adapt to this new context.
So while we are actually immensely pleased by the introduction of this new regulation and we hope it becomes an example worldwide, we still had to quickly adapt our platform in development to this new regulation.
But there is not only bad(dish) news, we have also been able in the meantime to streamline our payment system even more and make it even easier for us to process and account the booking + donation system that is our key feature.
More importantly while dealing with all these opportunities and challenges we have also been able to start our process of destination activation by kicking off Local Nodes in Genova, Helsinki and London. It has been a touching and energizing experience to meet so many people motivated to help us and that are getting active to prepare the launch of Fairbnb.coop in their hometowns.
And finally the good news we were all waiting for:
Notwithstanding all this we are still going to deliver within Summer 2019!
So, what’s the estimated date of release for the fairbnb.coop booking engine to be online and what will it look like?
Quick honest answer: Mid to Late September (this time for sure) and it is going to be quite basic.
Thanks to the hard work and overhead cuts during these last 3 months and to the planned funds finally arriving, from september we will release a platform with the basic functions, we will open a new head office and fill it up with a full motivated team dedicated to support everyone that wants to contribute to the initiative and activate new local nodes.
The initial months will be important to onboard people and users, improve the experience on the platform (don’t expect it to be perfect at the beginning!) and engage local actors all around the world.
Thanks to our new team members dedicated to fostering local communities from September onward periodical calls for all the people that want to contribute will be organised, and potential collaborators, partners and volunteers will be welcomed in efficient working groups where people will be able to contribute with their expertise and passion.
Starting from our coming release our effort will be to connect with thousands of people and organisations worldwide to reach our goal of 120 local nodes and destinations in the next 15 months!
This truly means that the journey is really about to begin!
NOTE FOR OUR PRE-REGISTERED USERS, HOSTS AND GUESTS.
As already explained the over 4.000 potential Hosts and Guests that have registered so far will have to wait until their destination is ready to be launched. To speed up the arrival of fairbnb.coop in a specific destination, our best advice is to step up and become an activator by getting in touch with us at community@fairbnb.coop so you can start a Local Node in your place and put it on ASAP on the fairbnb.coop map. As you probably know Local Nodes are key in our growth process as we will expand mainly by connecting and empowering local actors and by fostering the growth of communities in order to make it possible for fairbnb.coop to operate effectively in a specific area.
Our first Hosts and Guests are going to be our best friends and bug hunters in this test period, using a platform that is going to be quite basic with no instant booking and channel management, but in exchange for their commitment at the beginning, it will slowly grow into a tool designed with their needs in mind, customized and adapted for a really meaningful and sustainable experience from both sides.
So that’s it. This is all the news that we have got regarding the stage we are at.
From now on during the next couple of months we are going to be constantly updating you and giving you detailed reports on all the aspects of our development and setup.
Looking forward to your comments and to soon showing you the beta release platform and from there, with your help, keep improving it day by day!
The Fairbnb.coop team
Buongiorno, vorrei sapere le mansioni dell’attivatore, grazie.
Caro Ottaviano, mettiti in contatto con noi a community@fairbnb.coop, il nostro team ti spiegherà tutto e in caso tu te la senta ti fornirà gli strumenti necessari. Si tratta veramente di un impegno minimo che uno può modulare sulle proprie disponibilità di tempo ed energia.
Hi there! I´m pretty excited about this new project and I wish to contribute with it from Barcelona. I´d like to be both, guest and host, of Fairbnb.coop.
Cool, You can head to https://beta.fairbnb.coop/signup is a very simple procedure
Hi, I would like to pre-register as a user.
Hi, thanks, You can head to https://beta.fairbnb.coop/signup is a very simple procedure
Hello Fairbnb,
I had looked over briefly few weeks ago and liked the way your things are shaping up! A quick question : “Can a legitimate, fully-licensed local host offering vacation rentals (with all city permits, insurance, taxes perceived etc) be part of Fairbnb?
We are a small locally owned and operated business in Canada, who are working very hard to offer a great accommodation service and customer experience the legal way while promoting local businesses nearby but I believe I read somewhere that your platform is only reserved for individuals with a single listing such as their own residence…
I appreciate any follow-up to this question and wish you all the best!
Marty from Canada
(tousim@gmail.com)
Hi Marty, for us lawfulness is an essential prerequisite so in general all our hosts independently from the kind of property will have to abide to local regulations. We are actively working with the local administrations of the places where we will be present to make sure that we can succesfully cooperate in order to prevent abuses. The rule of 1 host 1 house is intended to as a general advice / code for all the fairbnb.coop communities worldwide BUT in accord with the Local Node and specific local needs other sustainability rules can be applied and in special cases also rules that allows landlords with more than one property ( for example in cases of areas that need torusim to keep local services active while the resident population is dwindling or just made of few families ). At the beginning (first two or three months) due to technical limitation from our side we will be able to have only Hosts with 1 room or 1 full apartment/house on offer. From the next coming release we will include also small locally owned Hotels, B&B and Camping sites allowing Hosts to manage multi rooms properties. I hope this answers your question.
Buongiorno,
è possibile mettere un pulsante che permetta la traduzione simultanea (anche con Google traduttore) in italiano? Renderebbe (almeno a me) tutto più semplice…
Maurizio
Ottima idea, abbiamo aggiunto un pulsante in alto al centro, speriamo ti sia utile!
Congratulations! I* registered as a user the minute I heard about Fairbnb. (What a marvelous name!) I look forward to being hosted in Venice and to becoming part of the local node in Vancouver. I recognize and deeply appreciate the enormous amount of work the fairbnb group has been doing . Inspiring! Melanie
Thank you Melanie, if you want to speed up our arrival in Vancouver get in touch with us at community@fairbnb.coop and we will help you find a way.
If you want your trip to Venice to be fair and sustainable, then don’t go. If you still insist in going, then at least don’t rent a full appartment. If you do, bear in mind that you will forcing a family out of town. The world is big. There’s more than Venice or Barcelona or Amsterdam to visit. Stop massifying those towns.
The problem of it all are not the platforms. The deep problem is greed and selfishness. You think that because YOU want to have your experiencie in Venice, you have the right to destroy other peoples lives, others peoples networks, orther people’s way of living, steal other people’s home. Thais is fierce consumerism. Thas is the true problem. So go, go the Venice. Be so original to go to the place everyone goes. And have the illusoin that you are being fair just because you rent under this marvelous name that helps you shake all the gilt out.
Hello, I am registered as host and user
Thank you !
Hi, excellent idea and urgently needed!
Please provide information how to financially support the project – I have seen that the crowdfunding is closed.
All the best!
Hi Fabio, thank you for your enthusiasm.
As you correctely stated our crowdfunding has stopped now. Is it still possible to fund the coop by becoming funding member (socio sovventore).
You can find more info by downloading this document: (ENG) – (ITA)
Hello, I’m registered as a host and will wait patiently untill Fairbnb will arrive at the “campagne française”.
Thank you for your patience 🙂
If you want to speed up our arrival get in touch with us at community@fairbnb.coop and we will help you find a way.
Congratulations on your very important first steps. I really do like the sound of the fairbnb model. Unfortunately I can’t be a host, but I very much look forward to being a guest!
Hello, why is this one going to be fair? What are the differences with unfairBnB? How will this projectect prevent families from being forced out of town (one vacational rental = 1 family forced out) and avoid tourist massification?
We don’t want any more tourists here in Barcelona. I imagine the same for Amsterdam or Venice. As I see it ,this is still promoting tourism to those cities.
PS: Please do NOT come to Barcelona. Anyway the whole city is ruined and massified by now, you won’t enjoy it. So please don’t bother to come.
Hi Ana, thank you for your contribution.
We understand your point of view and we totally agree that those who host in their own residence are the most sustainable form of tourism possible, that’s why soon we will allow also booking in locally owned B&B and small hotels; Is also understandable that many locals are exacerbated by a potentially positive phenomenon that has gone out of control and to find a way to reduce the numbers of those allowed to rent full properties is also one of our goal.
Our effort is to identify among the current Host pool a restricted number that could be considered sustainable, more precisely those families that use only 1 secondary house on the tourist market to support their budget to remain residents in very expensive city centers. Our researches in the touristic cities where we come from show that probably only around a 10/20% of the current Hosts are not multi listers and residents as well. Imagine if it was possible to promote this segment and curb multi listers and investors that buy properties form outside the community with the sole intent to host tourists? That would bring back the market at its origin where was a good opportunity for residents as well as a way for tourists to have a meaningful travel experience.
We have actually worked at close contact with the local communities and public administrations of the pilot cities (Including Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam) to devise the best possible approach and we are interested to hear as many voices as possible. Also our policies are dynamic and may change in time to address issues and adapt to circumstances and new regulations. We strongly suggest you to get involved with our Barcelona Local Node and get in touch with us at info@fairbnb.coop we will be pleased to involve you in our democratic processes.
All the Best.
Sorry, but families that use only 1 secondary house on the tourist market to support their budget could rent to another family. THAT would bring the maket to the previous situation and THAT would be fair and sustainable.
Any platform that is promoting full-appartment rental for the tourist market in cities like Barcelona, Amsteredam or Venice is UNFAIR and UNSUSTAINABLE and FORCING RESIDENTS OUT of town, however you disguise it.
So, I invite anyone who really cares about sustainability and fairness not to support this project unless it changes its policies, and not to visit to those cities renting a full appartment.
Thank you for inviting me in a “democratic” processes, but, as I see, you already censored my 2 other messages. Sorry maybe they were too straightforward. Not very democratic to censor comments, really. Hope you change your way of doing things and stop promoting Barcelona. Because here we are in full massification on the strets, shops are focusing only on tourism and we have almost no homes left to live in. So please stop it if you really care.
Ana, we have not censored your comments, we have chosen one between the many that you have submitted in order to have your say without having 3 or 4 similar comments from the same person on the same page.
We suggest you get in touch with our node from Barcellona, they are locals that have helped create this project and we are sure that they will take in great consideration your point of view.
Hi Ana
I would like to talk to you. I am not in the platform and I am also a bit pessimistic about the power of this tool to change this situation. But I am sure these guys are doing their best to address the problem.
I have studied the gentrification process and woud like to share some ideas with you (that maybe can drive to possible solutions), Please send me a note: carlosvinheira arroba yahoo ponto com
Hi Ana, I like your candid feedback. Indeed, the question I think is “fair for who?”
I love the concept though to give back to the community. Still puzzled how that will work
Hi! I registered as soon as I heard about this idea. I’ll be eagerly following the developments and hope to soon be able to book with you as a user-guest.
I was wondering: how do you intend to deal with those people that already heave their own apartement on offer on Unfairbnbs?
Of course I’m not referring here to multilisters but to residents who only have their one unit on offer. As much as these people would agree with your concept, they’d probably be quite reluctant to let go of their visibility (and income) on the established platforms.
So, will they be able to publish their apartment for offer on Fairbnb AND also on those other platforms?
Of course in the hope that one day this approach will prevail!
Hi Francesco, we are not exclusive, Host can have their accommodation on our platform and on other platforms as well, after all is good for all the market if fair hosts get more exposure and more clients.
I am looking forward to seeing your project start. I grew up in a small Italian city with many tourists. I now live in a small town whose economy depends on tourism. I believe there are ways of managing tourism and still allow residents to access the housing market. I love visiting Venice and prefer to rent a small place when I am there. I make my contribution to the local economy by shopping for food in Venice from small stores, whenever possible. I purchase items from local artisans (by now I know a few), support the arts, use public transportation, and otherwise do my best to behave respectfully of people and places. I don’t think it is helpful to paint all visitors with the same broad brush. A better approach is to enlist the help of people who want to help, which is what Fairbnb is doing. I am looking forward to being a guest soon. Thank you!
Question: you mention fairbnb does not get a commission on the rental. How can you then return 50% of the profit to the local community?
Hi Lucresse, we take a commission (15%) from the traveller, not from the Host. Half of the aforementioned commission is then invested in a local community project.
Hallo FairBnB
Ich habe mich sofort bei Euch registriert, habe gerade von FairBnB gehört! Tolle Idee! Ich freue mich schon 🙂
Liebe Grüße, Karolina * * *
Hi i m looking for 1room in good condition near sukhumit for 1 or 2 month plz help in finding that at reasonable price.thank u.