eliminate blind spots in short-term rental supervision
2024-08-29
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the short-term rental housing market has flourished in recent years, but behind the rapid expansion, there are problems such as the difficulty in ensuring the authenticity of housing, and worrying living environment and safety hazards, which urgently need to be strengthened and regulated.
with its flexibility and convenience, short-term rentals meet the needs of modern people for short-term living. however, most short-term rental transactions are conducted online, with consumers selecting a house online and paying electronically before moving in. tenants have no direct contact with the house or landlord, and the serious information asymmetry makes short-term rentals like "opening a blind box."
on the one hand, the platform is unable to display all the information about the property, such as the house's maintenance history, surrounding environment, noise, etc., resulting in consumers having to rely on limited pictures, comments and other information to make rental decisions; on the other hand, in order to attract tenants, landlords may engage in false propaganda by beautifying photos, exaggerating descriptions, etc., causing consumers' expectations of the property to be far from reality.
the chaos in the short-term rental market not only greatly reduces the living experience of consumers and damages their rights, but also undermines the market integrity system and affects the healthy development of the industry. the lack of safety equipment such as fire-fighting facilities will also bring safety hazards to residents.
the healthy development of the short-term rental market is inseparable from a multi-pronged approach of strengthening supervision, improving regulations, and raising standards. only by increasing transparency and reducing information asymmetry can consumers live more assured and comfortable. relevant departments should clarify the responsibilities of all parties, increase law enforcement efforts, strengthen supervision and punishment of false propaganda, and ensure that consumers can obtain comprehensive and true housing information.
industry associations and platforms should formulate stricter guidelines to guide the short-term rental market towards normalization and standardization. for example, clearly inform all possible expenses to avoid extra charges; strengthen the disclosure of housing safety information to ensure that consumers are fully aware of it. in addition, technical means such as big data and artificial intelligence can be used to improve the efficiency and accuracy of housing information review; improve the evaluation system and improve the authenticity of the evaluation.
consumers should also enhance their awareness of self-protection and continuously improve their ability to identify. before booking, carefully check the description, pictures and location information of the house, and ask the landlord or platform about the possible fees to better protect their own rights and interests. (source: economic daily author: zhai zihao)
source: economic daily
