online-booked houses cannot become “unregulated houses”
2024-09-06
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online-booked houses cannot become “unregulated houses”
lan tianming, commentator of banyuetan
as a new accommodation format, online booking has flourished in cities in recent years. online booking usually takes the form of short-term rental similar to hotel booking, and is traded through third-party platforms, providing tenants with more flexible and convenient accommodation options. however, while this emerging format is developing rapidly, it has also exposed some problems that deserve to be addressed. in particular, some online bookings lack the necessary management constraints on the occupants, making them a hotbed for criminals.
online booking rooms frequently abuse minors
recently, incidents involving abuse of minors in online-booking rooms have occurred frequently.
not long ago, a reporter from china news service learned from a local procuratorate in the east that the procuratorate had recently handled two cases involving the introduction of minors into prostitution in online booking rooms.
from april to may 2023, the two defendants met a 16-year-old female minor. knowing that she was a minor, the two reached an agreement with her to introduce prostitution, that is, to use an online booking room as a place for the three to live and solicit prostitution. in september of the same year, the two defendants solicited prostitutes through social software and introduced minors and five prostitutes to engage in prostitution activities in online booking rooms and hotels.
in february this year, fangyuan magazine disclosed a number of cases involving abuse of minors in online booking rooms.
in a criminal case involving a gang of 15 people cracked by jiangsu police in april 2022, adults were responsible for directing and contacting clients, while several minors were responsible for brainwashing, threatening, and beating the victims. they forced three underage girls to engage in prostitution in online booking rooms through mental coercion, emotional deception, and violent beatings.
on may 31, 2023, the court sentenced 15 defendants to prison terms ranging from 10 years and 6 months to 9 months for the crimes of forced prostitution, rape, promoting prostitution, theft, robbery, forced molestation and insult, and imposed corresponding fines.
in addition, the prosecutor's office in a southwest region found that three underage suspects booked online booking rooms and moved in with underage victims under the age of 14 and had sexual relations with them. during the entire registration and check-in process, the online booking room operator did not meet with the four minors, nor did they register or verify the identity information of the guests.
in the cases disclosed in various places, there are also cases of minors taking drugs and gambling in online booking rooms. in september 2021, the linping district procuratorate of hangzhou city, zhejiang province, found that an underage girl was related to a drug case. the public security organs filed a case against her and found that she had smoked synthetic cannabinoids in the online booking room.
some online booking rooms are in a state of "out of control"
a reporter from china news service learned that the current standards for managing online-booked properties vary from place to place. in some places, online-booked properties are even in a "out of control" state, and almost no identity proof or verification is required when checking in, which makes it very easy for criminal behavior to arise.
——regulation is in a gray area.online-booked housing has a variety of business forms, including daily rentals, short-term rental apartments, serviced apartments, homestays, and inns. the diversity of functions and living forms leaves a gray area for online-booked housing supervision.
if online-booked houses are classified as hotel industry, then the operator should obtain a business license issued by the market supervision department in accordance with the "public security management measures for the hotel industry" and apply for a special industry license from the local public security agency; if it is classified as rental housing, then the operator should apply for registration with the public security police station where the house is located with relevant documents in accordance with the "public security management regulations for leased housing", and sign a public security responsibility guarantee letter with the public security police station after review and compliance with the rental conditions.
a case officer from the procuratorate said: "online-booked houses are often beyond the control of public security organs and market supervision departments, and are in a regulatory vacuum." a reporter from the china news service found that although some places have issued trial regulations for online-booked houses, the characterizations and penalties are different, and there is a lack of unified regulations on the attributes of online-booked houses.
——real-name registration is difficult to implement.the reporter of banyuetan saw on some online platforms that a large number of online booking houses are mainly in residential communities. the reporter tried to check in with a false name and easily transferred to the final payment page. the reporter also tried to book an online booking house in a city in the east. after booking the room, the landlord directly provided the reporter with a string of electronic door lock codes through the platform. during the whole process, no one asked for registration or verification of documents.
"online-booked rooms lack clear industry standards and audit specifications. when operators accept guests' reservations, they often fail to fulfill their mandatory obligations of identity verification, registration and audit. it is difficult to implement the 'four reals' system of real name, real number, real time and real situation. this makes it possible for people to come and go freely in online-booked rooms, making them a hotbed for criminals," said the above-mentioned case handler.
how can the industry develop legally and in compliance with regulations?
many legal professionals said that online room-hailing, as a new form of accommodation business, meets the consumption needs of different groups of people to a certain extent. we should actively promote the legalization, regularization and standardization of industry operations, and guide the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
——fill in regulatory gaps and improve regulatory effectiveness.liu junhai, a professor at the court of renmin university of china, said that it is recommended to bring various types of online rental housing into the scope of supervision through legislation, and clarify the industry affiliation, entry conditions, review procedures, regulatory bodies, and regulatory responsibilities.
"through legislation, we can clarify the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of online-booked housing operators, third-party online platforms, and guests staying in the accommodation. based on legal norms such as the "hotel industry public security management measures" and the "leased housing public security management regulations", online-booked housing will be included in the scope of public security management, and a complete full-process mechanism will be established for online-booked housing operation registration and filing, third-party online platform review, and occupant registration and review." liu junhai said.
——strengthen the review responsibility of online platforms."the online service platform for online booking is not a simple display platform, but an intermediary platform, especially for house rental services. the most basic thing is to verify the authenticity and safety of the house source." zhang yuxia, a senior partner of shanghai shenhao law firm, said that the platform should force online booking operators to submit operator information, house source type and other supporting materials when applying to publish house sources. the name, id number and other information of the booker should be connected to the public security system in a timely manner to fully review the authenticity of the information.
"in addition, we can add safety tips for minors and other reminders on the online room booking consumer interface. through 'safety reminders + system review', we can prevent minors from staying in online rooms alone or with other adults without the consent of their parents or other guardians." zhang yuxia said.
——strengthen the management responsibilities of business entities.yan yan, director of shanghai yan yan law firm, suggested that online booking operators could be required to conduct regular inspections of their business premises. if operators find that the personal or property rights of minors are infringed or suspected of being infringed during their stay, they should immediately report to the public security organs and contact the minors' parents or other guardians in a timely manner. after the online booking industry has identified the competent authorities, the competent authorities should promptly interview or punish online booking operators that have repeatedly encountered problems.
