Latest / Best of Business / Julie Wilson: Airbnb volunteer community leader on Wellington Airbnb hosts voicing disapproval with accommodation rate hike

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Julie Wilson: Airbnb volunteer community leader on Wellington Airbnb hosts voicing disapproval with accommodation rate hike · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks EDB. Follow
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  Speaker 2: Wellington councils on the hunt for more cash because obviously
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  Speaker 2: they bug of their books and they need revenue. It's
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  Speaker 2: got owners of airbnb properties in sight. Currently anyone who
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  Speaker 2: runs an airbnb pays residential rates, but the council is
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  Speaker 2: considering whether to charge them commercial rates instead. Now that
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  Speaker 2: is three point seven times the bill. This would mean
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  Speaker 2: rates for those properties could treble. Airbnb hosts are worried
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  Speaker 2: they'll soon be without a business and one example, this
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  Speaker 2: woman says she would be out of business. Judy Wilson
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  Speaker 2: owns an Airbnb. She's also the Airbnb Volunteer Community leader
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  Speaker 2: for Wellington.
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  Speaker 3: Hi, Julie Jorder, how are you? Yeah? Good?
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks for coming on the show. How many
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  Speaker 2: for most people do they airbnb their own house and
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  Speaker 2: are they therefore not living there when the airbnb is starting.
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  Speaker 3: Most actually airbnb their houses when they're away, so it's
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  Speaker 3: primarily their family home and if they go on holiday
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  Speaker 3: or if they're away, they'll airbnb their space. We also
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  Speaker 3: have some hosts that works, they work out of Wellington
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  Speaker 3: a few days a week or work in Wellington either way,
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  Speaker 3: and they've got a home in Wellington and they will
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  Speaker 3: rent out in Airbnb for that portion of the time
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  Speaker 3: when they're away.
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  Speaker 2: Right, what's your rate? What would your rates bill changed
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  Speaker 2: to if this went ahead?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, it's something around the forty thousand dollar mark, So
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  Speaker 3: it would just mean we wouldn't it would, you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's well over what would even earn anything like that.
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  Speaker 3: So myself and many hosts like me would just stop hosting.
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  Speaker 3: We'd just incorporate the Airbnb that's in the bells of
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  Speaker 3: our house back into being our house, which I mean
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  Speaker 3: it's used by my family when it's not being used
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  Speaker 3: by an airbnb. So that would kind of be lost
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  Speaker 3: to the Wellington market. You know, all that money that
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  Speaker 3: comes in from you know, having hosts, sorry, guests come
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  Speaker 3: and stay with us.
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  Speaker 2: Right, what's your what's your rates at the moment?
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  Speaker 3: Just over eleven thousand, right, So I mean because they've
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  Speaker 3: gone up, they've gone up, Wellington has gone up so
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  Speaker 3: much recently we've actually had more hosts coming on just
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  Speaker 3: to be able to pay you know, pay their rates.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, potentially get stung by this Okay, So here's the argument.
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  Speaker 2: If you're what you're doing is a commercial activity and
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  Speaker 2: you're you know, presumably your guests would be using the
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  Speaker 2: roads and using the sewerage and using the pipes, et cetera,
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  Speaker 2: that the councils so justify why it shouldn't.
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  Speaker 3: Be Well, they're not using it for any more than
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  Speaker 3: what a normal house is intended. It's not like we're
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  Speaker 3: you know, squeezing fifteen people into a two bedroom. It
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  Speaker 3: would the same amount, you know. I think they keep
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  Speaker 3: talking about the goal is to slice the rates pie fairly,
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  Speaker 3: but charging sort of small part time hosts for commercial
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  Speaker 3: rates is not really fear its successive. Like many of
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  Speaker 3: us kind of rate rent occasionally, not as a full
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  Speaker 3: time business. But they're going to be treating us the
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  Speaker 3: same as a hotel with hundreds of rooms. Kind of overkill.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's what they might call
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  Speaker 2: extortion actually, Julie.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know Wellington, we need airbnbs like we
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  Speaker 3: need them, like this weekend we had Homegrown and we
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  Speaker 3: had the week Fix triathlon. Hotels just won't meet the demand.
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  Speaker 3: So there's certain Timesas for World yeah, you know, World
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  Speaker 3: of Wearible Arts rugby games.
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  Speaker 2: I'd also look, I've got family in Wellington. I know
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  Speaker 2: exactly what you're talking about. You need, you do need
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  Speaker 2: somewhere else. You do need options. Julie, what do you
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  Speaker 2: think just because I've got you on the line and
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  Speaker 2: you're from Wellington, what do you think is going to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: happen with Is anyone going to vote for Tori Fan now?
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  Speaker 2: Is she gone?
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  Speaker 1: Well?
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  Speaker 3: I think she's probably gone.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, good to know. To Chicken on the pulse, Julie,
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  Speaker 2: thank you for that, Take care, good luck with your fight.
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  Speaker 2: Julie Wilson, Airbnb owner.
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