I’ve heard that one of the reasons airBNB was successful wasn’t due to costs (outside of the initial burst) but because the sheer lack of hotels in many major cities. I do know that there is almost no hotels in downtown Toronto despite the sheer number of convention centres and tourist attractions. No way a tourist or business person is going to book a hotel on the edge of the city when everything they’re doing is in the downtown area.

This is another area that the NIMBYs have been screwing over people and certain groups have been discreetly taking advantage of people.

Either way, both problems would be solved quite easily if supply was simply greater. Hotels shouldn’t be blocked from being built where they’re needed the most, nor should any group have the power to block housing development unless if it’s actually unsafe to do so for some reason. This is why it’s actually cheaper to buy a house in downtown Tokyo than it is within 100km of Toronto. And I’m talking about a detached house in Tokyo, not a condo.