A leader in restoration and preservation projects in northern cities, John Kistler of Minneapolis has worked on a range of historic properties and multi-family buildings in his career. An expert in the real estate and home-sharing industries, he explains below how Airbnb and similar companies can help tackle the problem of overcrowding in major cities.
John Kistler of Minnesota is a restoration expert who has spent decades restoring homes and buildings in Minnesota to retain the architectural significance they represent. Over the years, he’s preserved many historic buildings in the state and has saved a number of architectural marvels from demolition. He loves the cities of Minnesota and wants to see them succeed in every way; but recently, John Kistler of Minnesota noticed that his own city and many other major hubs across the country face overcrowding, and he believes there’s a solution to this problem already in play.
Home-sharing companies like Airbnb, he says, increase tourism by reducing the cost of lodging. These companies can bring in visitors during off-seasons to boost the local economy and can solve overcrowding in cities during peak seasons by offering more places for them to stay.
“Tourism is a massive international industry and contributes over a tenth of the entire world’s
gross domestic product,” says John Kistler of Minnesota. “It has its downsides, such as
overcrowding and high costs, but home sharing is helping to even things out a bit.”
In general, international tourism has boosted with home-sharing companies being a major drive behind it. These companies have opened new locations to travelers as well as offered more affordable options to stay in. Today, home-sharing companies boast millions of listed properties in thousands of cities across the globe.
Reports show that home-sharing frees up accommodation in major cities and also fights overcrowding while boosting tourism and funneling new money into these areas. Instead of high and low seasons, home-sharing is helping to balance the flow of visitors internationally throughout the year, too.
“In addition, home-sharing is helping to keep hotel rates in check by acting as a worthy competition with typically lower price tags,” says John Kistler of Minnesota. “During the busiest tourism periods, when hotel rooms often sell out and boost their costs, home-sharing is keeping rooms open and prices down.”
While this may seem like a bad bargain for hotels and other lodging providers, home-sharing has shown to only impact their revenue by about one percent in major cities. And it provides many unique benefits to travelers who can visit new destinations during peak seasons without having to fork over a fortune in lodging costs. Home-sharing companies are available in almost every major city today, helping to cut down on overcrowding and giving travelers more affordable options during their adventures.
