We stayed in Aviemore (Scotland) last year and the local businesses were really struggling for staff. We were told that there was very little accomodation for seasonal staff, because it was more lucrative to rent it out to tourists. So you can go stay in Aviemore, but good luck finding anywhere to eat your dinner.
St Andrews, where I went to university, suffers from the same issue. When rich tourists can spend hundreds of pounds a night to stay in AirBnBs at the "home of golf", the broke students get forced into paying £2000pcm for a dilapidated council house.
I honestly don't understand using AirBnBs in most places in the UK -- traditional, proper B&Bs offer a better experience, often at a better price point. I guess if you've got a whole family, children in tow and all, maybe AirBnB begins to make sense, but even then, there are so many good self-catering options that don't eat up the local housing market.
Sheer availability beats everything. And as the other commentor says, quite a lot of BnBs are just staying in someone's house that isn't intermediated by a global megacorp.
Real B&B’s and Hotels are much better in the states too. The AirBnB fees and crappy experience make it only feasible if large numbers of people want to stay together. Even then I’ve found VRBO and direct renting to be superior in everything except having a phone app.
I stayed at B&Bs in Scotland 20 years ago and it was a very memorable experience.
I, too, absolutely love traditional UK B&Bs – but in my experience they typically operate from what rather looks like a converted regular house, so couldn't they, too, be accused of taking away regular housing?
