Airbnb's have changed the way the world travels. Now, for a fraction of the price of a hotel, you can sleep in an apartment, or even someone's spare bedroom that's right where you want to be.
However, a recent investigation by Blackpool councillors discovered that more than 500 of the businesses are trading in the resort. It's a number locals fear will change the town forever, LancsLive reports.
Hoteliers are worried about what this number of unmanned holiday lets means for them and their businesses, with some concerned that they will end up being used as 'party houses', meaning a rise in antisocial behaviour and a blow for Blackpool's reputation.
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Others are worried they are taking away vital business from established B&B's which are already fighting for the same pound from tourists, and say they can't compete with the' stupid prices' offered by some Airbnbs. Craig Gilmour owns The Beeches on Hull Road. He has 17 years experience of guesthouse management in Blackpool, and he says that it's unfair that Airbnb's are just popping up and aren't following regulations.
He said: "I've been here nine years. I've had another hotel before that for eight years. Since the Airbnb's have started becoming more popular here, I've definitely seen it negatively impact my guesthouse in terms of them taking business away. It's frightening to hear the number of Airbnb's that are operating in Blackpool, especially as we have to jump through so many hoops to stay open.
"You see a lot of them on social media, particularly in Facebook groups, and they're giving rooms away for stupid prices, and you just think 'how can I compete with that' you know? especially now, in the off season, and in a cost of living crisis. Something does need to be done."
Craig added: "A lot of these Airbnb's are unmanned. When I have guests, I have to be here 24/7. Why is it different for them? There should be stricter regulations to keep them in line with what the rest of us have to do."
Gerard Flynn is the chairman of the Central Blackpool Business forum. He also runs the Lindum Hotel. He's concerned with the level of disruption these lets would add to the streets of Blackpool.
He said: "Personally, I'm more concerned about the amount of trouble they bring. There's a planning application in for the property at the top of the street and they plan to break one hotel into two separate hotels and have 15 to 20 people in each property. You know what's it like with alcohol's involved.
"I'm concerned about what will spill out into the street. This is one of the quieter streets, we don't have a lot of noise, but once this opens, I think we will see an increase in trouble here."
This issue is not just concerning established B&B owners, but local residents too. Earlier this year, we reported that Blackpool locals had hit out at approved plans for a B&B to change into a self-contained holiday let over concerns it will become an 'unmanaged party house'.
One of the residents of the street was Esther Mellor who wrote: "All other businesses on the road are B&Bs so having an unmanned party house right in the middle of the terraced row could very well cause problems with noise and bad behaviour. Problems such as these would have a detrimental effect on the surrounding businesses as well as causing extra work for the police who would have to sort out any problems."
Gerald, like the others on the street, was not keen on the number of Airbnbs operating in Blackpool, but he was also concerned with the number of hotels saturating an already busy market.
He continued: "It's not ideal.... We can't open a hotel without some sort of waste carrier licence, we have to pay for that, where as they can open for 90 days of the year without one. They're making major changes to some of these properties as well.
"They are at least converting existing beds. I'm more concerned with new hotels springing up adding 150 to 200 new beds into an already heavily saturated market. The Airbnb beds are already existing within the market, where as a new hotel would only add more beds to Blackpool."
Next door to Gerald is the Winslow hotel, run by Tony Moran and Sylvia Broadhurst. They've run the hotel for 22 years, and had run another one for two decades before that. They are now at the point where they haven't had to advertise their hotel for the past 15 years, operating solely on word of mouth and returning customers.
They too are concerned that the Airbnbs will attract trouble to the town, especially if they aren't managed properly, and have even had their own experience of having to take in stranded tourists when their accommodation hasn't been habitable.
Tony said: "Just a week ago we had a couple who had booked in an Airbnb, and they went in and they said it was terrible. It stunk and was unclean. They didn't even make it to the bedroom before they'd come out of there to find somewhere else.
"We're part of stay Blackpool, and to have their accreditation, we have to be inspected once a year. The problem with this game, is it relies heavily on word of mouth, and if one person has a bad experience, it gets around. It all adds up to ruin the reputation Blackpool has.
"There's too many places that are opening up without being inspected to make sure they're fit for use. Before a place is allowed to open, it should inspected by someone to make sure its alright."
23 Grange House has been in Anita Horrobin's family for 40 years. Like Tony and Sylvia, she and her family have worked hard to build a good reputation. She too worries about how the influx of Airbnb's will affect Blackpool.
She said: "We've worked hard, we've built a good reputation which we have to work hard to keep. We have to keep everyone happy and these Airbnb's are getting away with all sorts.
"It's not good is it, why should these Airbnb's be able to operate unlicensed when we have to have everything in order to stay open? I mean everyone needs to make money, but everyone running some form of guesthouse should be abiding by the same rules."
Director of Stay Blackpool, Ian White says he's pleased that the council are actively taking steps to crack down on the number of Airbnbs, but it worried that there are larger, unaddressed problems.
He said: "It is good to see the council has recognised the Airbnb problem after being warned month in month out for so long and it is also appreciated this is not just a Blackpool problem The reality is far more serious than just the council missing out on a quarter of a million pounds from planning applications.
"The loss of residential property for an already stretched sector driving up market rates and pricing younger families out of the market to be able to buy their first home. Putting a real pressure on the rental sector driving up rates making it significantly harder for those renting to find a place to live. Not only that the fact these properties are typically only used around 30% more of the year, some slightly more yet others less
"With such low use the prospect is for these properties to attract various criminal activity such as robbery and theft from vehicles, use of such properties for county lines activity, etc there are also the issues connected to on street parking, a problem which often leads to neighbour disputes and so many other issues.
"There is a real irony that for more years than I can remember StayBlackpool and others have been calling for the council to introduce a "License to Trade" for the short-term holiday sector where every such business and their owner or managers are regularly checked in the same way taxi and private hire vehicles are, to ensure corners are not cut and keeping public safety the real priority
"This would also allow the council to take on those B&B's, Guest Houses, Hotels and holiday flats that significantly let the town down. Currently with so little in the way of regulations, some significantly dire accommodation exists with places now being marketed at £9.00 per night. At such prices, how can these places be, Clean, Safe or even Legal, let alone warm.
"It is appreciated that the planning team have already taken some extremely positive steps in the battle to ensure that occupancy levels are clearly defined, the use of sofa beds are not permitted, noise tests between party walls are carried out as well as having a defined management plan is submitted.
"However as so many have not gone through the planning process, appropriate controls are not in place. Instead of people not applying for planning permission because they were not aware, people are avoiding getting planning permission, so the occupancy levels are not defined."
A spokesperson for Airbnb said: "Airbnb empowers local families to share their homes and boost their income. The typical Blackpool Host rents their space for just over one night a month, and around a third of Hosts across the UK say they host to afford the rising cost of living.
"We have zero tolerance for anti-social behaviour and welcome regulation, having backed plans for a Host register across the UK that will help authorities access data and enforce the rules."
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