Originally Posted by
JackE
You started out saying AirBnB provides no additional service, and now you're pointing out that they do.
Anti-capitalist rant, meet reality.
Why are you accusing me of being anti-capitalistic and of ranting? Clearly the casa bookers and casa providers are making money for themselves. THAT is capitalism (as is licensing and being taxed). Be careful with what you say. This system works for Cubans and for the clients who have been allowed to come to Cuba. I am not sure where you are from, but it is not the Cuban government that has disallowed US citizens from coming to Cuba.
Furthermore, JackE,
you are putting words in my mouth. In my OP I used the term
no extra value. I
did NOT say no additional service.
You did.
I missed something with your comment. The current casa-booking system is the just involved in booking Cuban casas and has been in place for years on a pay-by-cash basis. AirBnB is now providing a casa-booking system too, but uses several intermediaries and payment is by credit card and is now accessible to Americans (but perhaps illegal as Carpetbagger points out).
If that is additional value to you then great. I pay cash and get a
licensed room for
less than through AirBnB. I guess you define terms differently that I do.
You (as a client) can get the more expensive room through AirBnB (if you wish) and many folks can get the room for cash through the well-established casa-booking system. Different definitions of value!