Yes, I think it's unfair that Italian taxi drivers were losing work because of uber (because Italian taxi drivers invest a lot of time and money into becoming a driver). But of course the taxi drivers didn't like that, and in places where taxi drives had some power over the government (like Italy and the Philippines), uber was banned. There was a market for something better and the internet provided. Uber grew exponentially because people were annoyed with unreliable, expensive, untrustworthy taxi drivers. I think anything that pushes out something outdated is a good thing - the outdated here being the hotels - hotels are expensive for what you get (a comfy bed and a good night's sleep, but rarely a kitchen or an authentic experience) and there needs to be a shake up in this area. Whilst I think it's abysmal that locals are being pushed out of the centre, I don't think a blanket-ban on airbnb is the solution.
The difference between airbnb and hotels is that building hotels takes time, switching an apartment from a long-term tenant to an airbnb tenant is quick and easy. In a way it's similar to hotels: if a city gets popular, building hotels is prioritised over building housing, and houses are often pulled down to build hotels. When it comes to ethics, many people argue that airbnb is bad because it's destroying the housing markets and local communities: if you have a property that you want to rent out, why would you bother getting a long-term tenant when tourists are willing to pay more than double? The impact of this is that in certain cities, locals can no longer afford to live in the centre. Luckily this isn't something you can't get into trouble for (though your host can). Secondly, and this is rife world-wide, many airbnb hosts are subletting to you illegally. This varies from country to country and a quick google search of your destination will tell you if it's okay or not (but in most places it is). I don't have all the answers but here are my two cents: firstly, some Airbnb's are illegal - for example in NYC it's illegal to rent an apartment on Airbnb for less than 30 days unless the host is present and there are a max of two guests. There is some discrepancy with whether it's ethical or not to use Airbnb.
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