Issue - meetings

The Chairman introduced this item to the Panel. He said that he was pleased that many members of the public were present and had registered to speak. He added that he hoped that the Panel would hear a balanced view on how this issue is affecting residents and businesses in Bath & North East Somerset.

Harry Tedstome

He said that he was speaking as a resident and as someone who was mindful of those that live, work and visit the City. He stated that noise and anti-social behaviour is a concern attributed to some properties of this nature and that the ability to enforce matters of health and safety is a problem.

He said that he was concerned over the lack of general rentable properties there are for residents / would be residents and that he was aware of a case recently where following a bidding war one family had agreed to rent a property for £2,400 a month.

Councillor Peter Turner commented that for enforcement to be carried out that officers rely on complaints.

Harry Tedstome replied that he acknowledged that and the need for evidence to be consistently logged.

John Turner, CEO of Visit Somerset

He said that there are many issues facing our accommodation sector including online travel agents, up skilling of the accommodation sector in a very technically savvy environment and of course AirBnB.

He stated that one of his major concerns relating to AirBnB is their pricing strategy. With over 1100 AirBnB's alone in Bath there is a real danger that the whole convenience angle that AirBnB push in their marketing might overshadow 'a greater issue'. He explained that in marketing terms this is called 'Price Penetration Strategy’, where businesses or retailers in essence will lower their prices to destroy traditional markets or competition.

He added that what we have with AirBnB (as has been reported) is the unfairness of their trading environment, allowing AirBnB to get away without paying rates and regulatory costs.

He said that working in the way AirBnB works supports a constructive 'price elasticity of demand' strategy, meaning AirBnB unlike other accommodation providers can not only promote technology and flexibility but also lower their prices and keep them artificially low against industry norms, due to low overheads. This is a lethal concoction.

If this is allowed to continue we will not be able to sustain a traditional accommodation economy in the region. We should learn lessons very quickly from the demise of the high street.

Finally we are looking at a proactive way of working against disruption and are supporting our members throughout the region in up skilling to engage with a more technically equipped customer that literally wants to book through their mobile phone and with quick and convenient viewing and booking.

Councillor Peter Turner asked if he had seen the governance documents of AirBnB.

John Turner replied that he had and that he considered them to be fair and proper and acknowledged that they provide a portal for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19