Airbnb is facing steep challenges surrounding insurance and safety issues as fatal incidents occur.

Zac Stone’s father, a user of Airbnb, attracted by the rope swing on the pictures, rented a cottage in Texas on Airbnb. Rather than having a good time with the swing on Thanksgiving morning, the trunk the swing was tied to broke and directly fell onto Mr. Stone’s head, “immediately ending most of his brain activity.” Accounted Zac Stone.

Accidents like this are inevitable. The rise of Airbnb offers travelers from all over the world a new approach to traveling and discovering different places; however, despite appealing pictures online, users’ experience with Airbnb can often be disappointing, even threatening. Stories that tell horrible guest experiences with Airbnb can be found easily online. Now that Airbnb faces the challenges with safety and insurance problems, it is important that the app start to think of doing something for its users, not only its hosts but also guests.

Currently, Airbnb offers “free, automatic secondary coverage for liability, in case a host’s insurance company denied a claim.” (New York Times) Airbnb states on its website that its Host Protection Insurance program now “provides primary coverage for Airbnb hosts and landlords…against liability claims up to $1 million USD that occur in a listing, or on an Airbnb property, during a stay.” (airbnb.com) The Host Protection Insurance program is provided through Lloyd’s of London, one of the providers of direct and indirect insurance policies covering many types of risks.

Ever since the enforcement of its Host Protection Insurance, Airbnb announces receiving less than 50 claims filed in the US. Compared to number of fatal accidents that occur in traditional hotel industry annually, the public has yet developed severe concerns for the safety aspect of Airbnb . The downside of Airbnb, compared to hotels, is that when unfortunate accidents happen, there is no one around responsible for immediate rescue.

In addition, under the “Help Center” section, guests will find some “Safety Tips” on airbnb.com that specifically provide safety advice for travelers during their stays. Although guests are encouraged to look for listings that emphasizes safety features including he insurance provided to hosts are not likewise applicable to guest/travelers. Unfortunately, the protection for those who pay for their stays on the website remains missing from the company’s insurance policies.

Airbnb may advise that travelers be responsible for their own safety, but what measure it will take to prevent future incidents from happening remains questioning.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/241/i-m-a-guest–what-are-some-safety-tips-i-can-follow

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/your-money/death-in-airbnb-rental-raises-liability-questions.html?ref=your-money

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-death-at-an-airbnb-rental-puts-the-tech-company-in-the-hot-seat_5640db66e4b0b24aee4b18f7

By Alexa Ritacco

“Income inequality” is a phrase that has been popping up all over the place lately. Personally, I’ve been hearing it pretty frequently in the current race for the White House. It has been brought up in multiple debates, democratic and republican, and it’s clearly something that the public is concerned about. Of course by just looking at the two words, the average person could probably guess what it means. There’s something unequal about incomes in the U.S. Despite having heard the phrase so many times, I still don’t quite understand what it is, what it means, why it exists or how/if it can be fixed. So I decided to begin to delve into these questions for this week’s blog post.

So first and foremost, why has it become such a hot topic? Well, as I discovered, it all dates back to the 1970s. Around then is when, after decades of stability, income inequality began to increase significantly, meaning that higher income households began receiving a higher share of the nation’s total income. The gap between the rich and everyone else has grown steadily by every statistical measure over the past 30 years or so. And just to clarify, income encompasses revenue from wages, salaries, interest on a savings account, dividends from shares of stock, rent, and profits from selling something for more than you paid for it.

30+ years of rapid growth equates to a whole lot of inequality, especially when you compare the US to other countries. Currently the US ranks around the 30^th percentile in global income inequality. This is pretty bad. 70% of countries around the world have a more equal income distribution than the United States. I personally find this shocking.

Of course The Great Recession of 2007-2009 had negative impacts all across the board, with everyone from the richest man to the poorest man taking a huge hit from the crash. The increases in income inequality most definitely slowed, but post-2009, things began to increase at an even faster rate. As the effects of the recession reversed, the gap only grew wider. In 2012, the wealthiest percentile saw incomes rise around 20%, while the income of the remaining 99% rose only 1%.

People are frustrated. People are angry. People want to know why this is happening and how it can be stopped. So naturally, it has become a partisan issue. Democrats tend to believe that action can be taken to slow this growth and potentially redistribute some of the wealth of the 1% among the other 99%. Republicans tend to be more skeptical, arguing that redistribution would interrupt the natural flow of the economy. But in a recent effort to connect with more middle class voters, republicans have taken a more vest interest in the income inequality gap. This, as well as more about the democrat views on the issue, is something I plan to explore more in my personal presentation, so stay tuned!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html?countryname=United%20States&countrycode=us&regionCode=noa&rank=41#us

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/49440

http://inequality.org/income-inequality/