Airbnb. Research proposal for investigating the impact of Airbnb s business model on pay and working conditions. Action for Ethical Tourism

Transcription

1 Airbnb Research proposal for investigating the impact of Airbnb s business model on pay and working conditions Peter Bishop Programme Manager July 2017

2 1 Overview Following concerns expressed by both partner orgnaisations and members, Tourism Concern has identified an urgent need to better understand how the Airbnb model is impacting upon the pay, working conditions and rights of workers, as well as the model s wider impacts. There is a lack of clear research evidence with respect to the impacts on workers rights, while data on the wider impacts is disparate and often colloquial. Given the growing prevalence of Airbnb in the global accommodation market, it is vital that existing evidence be evaluated and new research undertaken in order that informed policy responses and lobbying strategies aimed at protecting workers rights and promoting equitable and sustainable tourism development can be devised and implemented. 2 Aims Generate new evidence on how Airbnb s business model impacts upon pay, working conditions and labour rights of workers. Investigate the impacts of Airbnb on local communities in destinations. Investigate the impacts of Airbnb on the hotel sector more generally. Develop an overview of current regulation. 3 Background Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb describes itself as a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodation around the world online or from a mobile phone or tablet. Airbnb has been praised for creating new opportunities to generate income for homeowners and renters saving money for travellers whilst putting the under-utilised assets of people s homes to work. Founded on the principles of the sharing economy, the business has seen exponential growth and now claims to offer accommodation in more than 65,000 cities and 191 countries. However, Airbnb is coming under increasing criticism, including for changing neighbourhood dynamics, disrupting the housing market, and avoiding taxes. Issues of safety, trust and discrimination have also been raised. Critically, the driving down of costs is thought to be impacting on the pay, working conditions and rights of workers whilst also threatening jobs in the hotel sector. There are specific concerns regarding Airbnb s expansion into less developed countries, where women s rights, child labour and sexual exploitation are already recognised problems in the hospitality sector. The proposed research would draw on other studies of Airbnb, including those conducted by academics and unions, and would examine specific local initiatives (in Barcelona, San Francisco and New York for example) which are seeking to control aspects of Airbnb s business via regulation.

3 4 Geographic Scope To ensure a balanced picture of Airbnb s impact, a broad regional representation is required. However the final selection and number of countries selected for research will depend both on available resources and on the realistic possibility of meaningful research in a particular location. It is important to include a range of countries including those where issues of regulation are already being addressed (USA and Spain for example) and less developed countries where lack of effective regulation is already impacting on pay and working conditions in the hospitality industry. Depending on the final agreed methodology and destinations selected, research may be conducted by Tourism Concern field work, via third party researchers, or using existing data. Possible destinations include: USA (San Francisco and/or New York) Spain (Barcelona) UK (London) Barbados (or other Caribbean country where Airbnb is being used to sell hotel rooms) South Africa (or Kenya) India (Goa) 5 Thematic scope Key issues and research areas could include: BACKGROUND: Overview of existing research on Airbnb, and on the sharing economy more generally. Overview of existing regulatory provisions, their scope and effectiveness. Assessment of labour rights context in countries being researched including wider development landscape, plus role of tourism in the economy and within country development strategy. Assessment of nature and scale of growth of tourism and the Airbnb model in the selected destination in recent years. SPECIFICS: These questions will ideally be compared to working conditions etc. in other parts of the hospitality sector, including hotels: Terms of employment Levels of unionisation / freedom to join a union / to participate in collective bargaining Pay and working conditions including contracts, holiday and sick pay, working hours, training opportunities, paid/unpaid overtime, workloads, health and safety Tipping and service charges including how impacted plus transparency and equity of distribution

4 Wage levels and working conditions in relation to wider social context (e.g. cost of living, accommodation standards, costs of raising a family, quality family/leisure time, health care costs etc) Gender specific impacts and vulnerabilities Migrant labour specific impacts and vulnerabilities Extent and quality of tourist interaction and positive cultural exchange 6 Methodology and roles Tourism Concern has extensive experience of researching complex issues re tourism impacts on people in destinations, including into pay and conditions. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies would be adopted, with a particular emphasis on exploring individual stories within the specific regulatory and socio-economic contexts in which those individuals work. Depending on the final agreed methodology and destinations selected, research may be conducted via field work by Tourism Concern, via third party researchers (using questionnaires for example), or using existing data. We propose a combination of desk based and in-country research as follows: TOURISM CONCERN: Desk research to compile background data into the selected destinations, in cooperation with partner organisations and their local affiliates Desk research to form literature review of relevant research, data on Airbnb, and overview of existing regulations. Include a grey and academic literature review, online materials etc. Interviews with local government, tourism associations and CSOs as required. In-situ research into wider impacts on the destination through semi-structured questionnaires, focus groups, individual interviews etc. 7 Working in partnership Tourism Concern would prefer to conduct the research in partnership with other organisations, including from within the tourism industry. However, to ensure the research findings are credible it is vital that Tourism Concern s independent and objective position be both preserved and recognised.

5 8 Dissemination The research findings will be captured in a report to be launched in the UK (House of Commons) and disseminated to relevant industry, government, union and civil society stakeholders. A limited number of printed copies to be produced, but the report will mainly available to download as a pdf from the participating organisations websites. Launch to be accompanied by media work. A more detailed dissemination strategy to be devised nearer the time, which will take account of the research findings and the wider strategies of Tourism Concern and partner organisations on this issue going forward. 9 Timeframe As pressure increases on Airbnb to be more accountable and on governments to regulate more effectively, particularly in more developed countries there is an urgent need for a clearer understanding of the impacts of their business model on pay and working conditions and on the hotel sector more generally. Tourism Concern propose a six month timeframe, with a start date as soon as possible in Budget The final budget will depend on the agreed scope and methodology of the research (see parts 5 and 6 above). Tourism Concern currently has no available funds from reserves for this research and is hence seeking 100% financial support from partner organisations. We estimate that an overall budget of 10,000 to 12,000 would be sufficient to generate meaningful results which fulfill the stated aims (see part 2 above) in order that informed policy responses and lobbying strategies aimed at protecting workers rights and promoting equitable and sustainable tourism development can be devised and implemented.

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