AirBnB

Airbnb operates an online marketplace and hospitality service for people to lease or rent short-term lodging, including holiday cottages, apartments, homestays, hostel beds and houses. Airbnb is the world's largest accommodation sharing website with over two million property listings in 191 countries.

Airbnb allows hosts to rent out unused space in their own homes.

Airbnb is far from equally accessible to everyone. Harvard Business School found hosts accepted reservations from an account with a white or anonymous avatar and denied a dark skinned one.

In many cases Airbnb prices are lower than those of hotels. So Airbnb has been disruptive to hotels in many destinations, and Airbnb hosts typically do not pay hospitality licences or permits, which can be expensive.

Airbnb is also increasingly disruptive to the long-term overall rental market, with homes withdrawn from rental in areas of high tourism demand, reducing the number of rentals available and impacting availability of traditional low-cost hospitality worker accommodation. Low supply and increasing rents are causing concern.

The impact on hospitality workers is now causing some councils to review their laws and regulations, creating restrictions on short-term lets and requiring landlords to acquire a permit, or enforcing a cap on letting days to protect local communities.