Fairbnb.coop, the short-term rental platform for fair tourism

According to the World Tourism Organization (Unwto) i international travel they should reach two billion in 2030 and three billion in 2050. To date, there are 98 destinations (in 63 countries) that have tourism management problems, three of these are in Italy: Venice, Florence And Rome. A problem for which a new word was coined: in 2016, a journalist from the tourism magazine identified the phenomenon Skift used for the first time the term overtourism (which we can translate as overtourism): in fact a bad management of flows, which often translates into an unsolvable and rough dichotomy between tourists and residents.

The advent of short-term rental platforms makes the matter more complex: the problem no longer boils down to excessive population density. These platforms make the house, already by definition a finished asset, a rare asset for residents forced to deal with owners who prefer short-term and much more profitable solutions. A phenomenon that brings with it inevitable consequences: not only short-term rentals do not generate any repercussions on the territory but cities emptied of their inhabitants inevitably lose their identity. One day traveling could become like going to a fast food restaurant: being in Kuala Lumpur or on the Appia Nuova in Rome will make no difference.

He thinks about reversing the course Fairbnb.coopthe platform for short rentals which aims to create a more equitable tourism: half of every commission paid by guests of a structure that joins the network goes directly to local communities, projects and cooperativesto initiatives dedicated to the environment, immigration, recycling, the fight against waste or education with immediate repercussions on the territory in which they exist.

“As a Venetian I have seen the phenomenon of tourism evolve in my city: as a kid it was a curious and nice thing, then it became a pervasive factor. Tourism is an all-encompassing industry, which generates very little investment but rather involutionary spirals with identity problems territorial,” he explains Emanuele Dal Carlo, president of Fairbnb. Together with a group of activists, he decides to map the accommodation facilities made available for short-term rentals in his city. “It’s 2014 and since screening it emerges that on 3,200 structures offered in various platforms at least a third were, so to speak, unknown to the taxman”.

A Far West which Fairbnb tries to put in order, focusing on the concept of legality, for a fair and honest competition, and of repercussions on the territory. “In seven founding partners we started designing the platform in 2018, launching it just before the pandemic: we share the concept of sharing economy. There is the inalienable right of property but let’s not forget that there is also the right to home. Social responsibility must not start only from city government but also from those who do business”.

Fairbnb.coop today is structured as a cooperative, with about thirty people involved in the project, the idea is one day to open it to hosts and travellers. To date, there are about 2,200 hosts distributed among Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Slovenia And England. The commission requested by the cooperative is generally lower than that requested by other competing platforms. The rule that hosts must respect to be part of it is to put only one of their properties on short-term rental.

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50% of the commissions collected is allocated to social projects: Fairbnb.coop supports a Genoa the CREA project, against food waste, Legambiente, in the Riviera di Levante Co.Co.Farm 2021, which aims to produce renewable energy, the project Street lawyer to Bolognavarious initiatives such as i cleaning days to Venice. In short: it costs nothing for the host, it doesn’t cost more for the guests, but the benefits go to the whole community. Finally, on the launch pad, the new platform, fairup.comthis time dedicated to experiences, with the aim of becoming an economic engine not only limited to tourism.

Soon Fairbnb.coop will launch a campaign, valid for the whole summer, and maybe beyond. “We will not charge commissions related to our service, but only the part linked to the donation in support of social projects. It is meant to be an invitation to purchase. Now our hope and goal is to activate a dialogue with local public administrations, so that they support and contribute to spreading our project”.