A few months ago, I shared news from an independent report on the UK sharing economy that had been commissioned by Matt Hancock, the UK business minister. It concluded that the UK should aim to be the global leader for the sharing economy and made a number of recommendations for how this could be achieved. This included that sharing economy businesses should come together to form a trade body that sets standards for best practice across the sharing economy.
Today, I’m pleased to announce that Airbnb has joined with other industry leaders to form ‘Sharing Economy UK’ – a trade body representing the sharing economy and working together establish responsible sharing practices for platforms and consumers.
The aims of SEUK are to:
- Champion the sector – making the UK the global home of the sharing economy
- Ensure best practice – establishing a ‘trust mark’ for responsible sharing practices for both businesses and consumers
- Act as a single voice – recognising the shared challenges facing member businesses and developing innovative responses.
SEUK was launched this morning by the UK Business Minister. He praised the new association, describing it as “…the strong voice for sharing economy businesses, big and small, giving consumers more choice and advancing this new frontier of online businesses”.
You can read more about today’s launch here.
At Airbnb, we have worked hard to develop world leading measures to build trust among our community and to ensure they have safe, enjoyable experiences. These include the £640,000 ($1m) host guarantee, a secure online payment structure, 24/7 customer support and a global trust and safety team. We take this responsibility seriously are are delighted that we can share best practices with other industry experts and work together on new standards that will benefit everyone in the sharing economy.