Many of us are familiar with Airbnb, and may see it as an easy and convenient option for travelling. But not everyone is aware of the issues Airbnb causes around the world, or the call to boycott them. Let me fill you in, and introduce you to an ethical alternative to Airbnb, as well as Booking.com and Expedia.
Boycotting for Palestinian Solidarity
The travel and tourism companies Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia all profit from Israel’s apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people. All three are listed in the UN database of businesses implicated in Israel’s illegal colonial settlement enterprise.
Tourism is key to Israel’s ability to normalise its apartheid regime and occupation of Palestine. Palestinian sites, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron, are popular locations for visitors. They are also located in territories Israel occupies, meaning Israel reaps the rewards from this tourism instead of Palestinians.
In its 2019 do no harm call, PACBI (The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a founding member of BDS) called on tourists to avoid services and products offered by Israeli providers, whether or not in collaboration with international digital companies.
On 19 July 2023, the International Court of Justice found Israel guilty of apartheid against Palestinians, ruling that the military occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory is illegal. This means that all states, local governments, corporations, and institutions have a legal obligation to immediately end all forms of complicity that directly or indirectly enable Israel to maintain its illegal military occupation.
Instead, Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia continue to directly support and benefit from Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by offering services such as holiday homes and hotels in these illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land.
These companies have almost changed course before. In November 2018, Airbnb announced it would stop listing properties in settlements, as part of a policy to bar listings that contribute to ‘existing human suffering’. The day after this was announced, Israeli strategic affairs minister Gilad Erdan wrote to the governors of Illinois, New York, Florida, Missouri, and California, encouraging them to take action ‘in relation to commercial dealings’ with Airbnb. After several states took action against Airbnb, the company buckled to the pressure, reversing course and saying it would not remove settlement listings from its platform.
While it may feel like these travel companies dominate the market, there are other options. Booking.com and Expedia can both be avoided by booking directly through hotel websites, but did you know there is also a better way to enjoy homestays while boycotting Airbnb?
Enter Fairbnb.coop: the ethical alternative to Airbnb that focuses on sustainable tourism and works alongside locals to create form partnerships that support communities.
Who are Fairbnb.coop
Fairbnb.coop was created by a team from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna and Venice. All of these areas were seeing the impacts of overtourism, with the increasing number of short-term rentals leading to soaring house prices and gentrification. So they set up an alternative option.
Fairbnb operates on a cooperative model, emphasising local welfare, sustainable tourism, and transparent operations, with a commitment to ethical hosting. Hosts are vetted to a much higher level, and aren’t allowed to have a large portfolio of rental properties. The platform currently operates across multiple regions of Europe, including popular destinations like Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, London and Berlin.
As a cooperative, Fairbnb.coop is also democratically governed by a diverse group of people, including employees, hosts, guests, and local community representatives. It’s owned by the people who use it and are impacted by it, and decisions are made collaboratively.
What makes Fairbnb the ethical Airbnb alternative?
Fairbnb.coop takes a local welfare approach. They ensure local communities benefit directly from the tourism the platform brings in, while checking that locals actually want them there. A major part of this is reinvesting 50% of their platform fees into local community projects, creating a circular economic model through redistribution. The locals themselves decide which projects are funded and where investment is needed, from social housing to environmental action to cultural preservation projects.
“In Amsterdam the money will go to a community gardening project in the north and an urban agriculture project for migrant women in the south-east – both poorer parts of the city,”
An ethical alternative that fights the housing crisis
Vitally, Fairbnb.coop is also an ethical alternative to Airbnb because of its longer-term approach to issues of global housing crises. Where Airbnb has seen a flood of overtourism and several housing crises in major tourist spots, Fairbnb.coop hosts are only allowed to have one property available to rent, across all online holiday rental platforms. Rather than wealthy people buying up huge amounts of housing stock to rent to tourists, displacing locals and driving up prices, responsible renting is encouraged. Plus, Fairbnb.coop also addresses overtourism through setting up groups of local residents, who come together to decide how many properties an area can sustain. Those who are most affected become the decision makers and regulate the industry depending on their specific wants and needs.
Fairbnb.coop also has a ban on properties owned by businesses. Airbnb has often featured many properties managed by agencies with multiple staff. In Amsterdam, 40% of Airbnb listings hosted guests for more than the permitted number of nights. Fairbnb.coop hosts are required to provide documents to show they comply with Fairbnb.coop’s rules, particularly when it comes to having no other rental properties.
The platform itself also encourages hosts to utilise sustainable practices, such as using eco-friendly cleaning products or providing guests with information about local public transport and independent businesses, keeping money in small, local businesses.
Local and sustainable experiences
Fairbnb.coop also promotes authentic local experiences, encouraging deeper cultural exchanges and fostering genuine connections with locals. Their experience platform fairUP is based on the same redistributive model as Fairbnb.coop, where users can book and offer authentic local activities.
This platform also utilises the Scout: a local activist that helps locals and becomes part of a redistributive ecosystem by helping underrepresented and marginalised local businesses become visible on the platform. fairUP aims to keep resources in local areas, redistributing fairly and respecting local communities.
Essentially, why go for companies not only complicit, but actively profiting form occupation, apartheid and genocide, when wonderful options like Fairbnb.coop exist? Options like this prove other ways are possible, that also tackle multiple issues at once, so give them a go!
Learn more about Fairbnb.coop here
The post Fairbnb.coop: The Sustainable & Ethical Alternative To Airbnb appeared first on Ethical Unicorn.
