[Magdalen] Accommodation in New York City

[Lynn Ronkainen]

I think the only issue NYC is having with Airbnb is that the hotels in NYC 
do not like the fact that people are making money without having to charge 
the huge tax assessed on lodging and other ways that Airbnb might be cutting 
into their business. Most major cities have hotel tax rates 3-4 times the 
amount of regular sales tax... in Houston I think it is 17% or more and this 
is also charged at airport parking as well (and all parking within a certain 
distance of the airport) - much of it to supposedly 'tax tourists' coming to 
Houston to pay for sports stadiums etc.

Airbnb is a website that connects people who need lodging with people who 
are 'letting out' a room(s)... kind of like what they called 'guest houses' 
or tourist's houses back when I was a kid. Same principle only they 
advertised for themselves and there was no middle man.  I remember looking 
in a Toronto yellow pages in my home library in suburban Detroit for a 
tourist house when my college roommate and I took the train to Toronto for 
spring break one year in the early '70s. I stayed in several places in NYC 
back in the late 70s that were part of a 'you had to know someone' group of 
people who had a secret network of rooms for let for a night or two, some at 
some pretty swanky places. You had to know someone to even get the unlisted 
number and then the person taking the calls would vet you over the phone, 
check with a few *clients* who might be willing to host you, and then you 
got a call from the prospective host.  Again, traveling with a friend we 
stayed at a woman's two-story co-op apartment on 5th ave. She asked us to 
say we were her visiting nieces if we were asked on the elevator or by the 
doorman...

I do agree that IF NYC manages to somehow prohibit Airbnb before Ian's 
travel, it would become a bit of a sticky wicket.

Lynn

My email  is changing soon to: houstonKLR at gmail.com


website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ann Markle" <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2015 10:54 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Accommodation in New York City

> I would be cautious about airbnb, as NYC is at war with it, and 
> considering
> making it illegal (some say it already is illegal).  So you might get to 
> NY
> in the fall and not have a room after all.
>
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
> blog:  www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com
>
> On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 11:56 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Try Trivago -- we had a room for 2 with two double beds for $128 
>> including
>> tax at Christmas -- in a Hilton, no less.
>>
>> Rates depend on travel dates and demand.
>>