New ad claims Airbnb helps moguls get richer

A new ad is accusing Airbnb of helping the rich get even richer.

In a spoof on a UNICEF ad campaign, the New York Post reported, a female narrator in the 60-second clip asks the viewer “what would you do if you saw a real estate mogul right in front of you, all alone, clearly suffering?”

Share Better Coalition, which includes elected officials as well as tenant- and affordable housing advocates, paid for the spot, according to the newspaper. The ad comes in response to Airbnb’s campaign that depicts hosts as regular New Yorkers who need some extra cash to pay their rent.

Screenshot from the new Share Better Coalition-funded anti-Airbnb ad

“This ad exposes Airbnb’s dirty secret: It enables real-estate moguls to get richer while at the same time it takes affordable housing away from everyone else,” Manhattan Assemblywoman and member of the Share Better Coalition Linda Rosenthal told the Post. The ad claims that 40 percent of Airbnb’s revenue ends up in the hands of real estate moguls.

Airbnb responded that 90 percent of its hosts in New York share their homes.

“We do not condone these large commercial enterprises,” an Airbnb spokesperson told the newspaper, “and continue to call for stronger regulation of illegal hotels.” [NYP] — Claire Moses