Hot Topic: Re"visiting" the sharing economy
A primer on the insurance issues surrounding lodging sharing
companies
Background
Beginning in the early 2000's, social technologies enabled
the emergence of new business models that capitalized on
collaborative consumption. Today, the term "sharing
economy" covers a wide range of digital platforms and offline
activities. While there is no uniform definition for the
"sharing economy," it appears to consist of four broad
categories: (1) redistribution of goods; (2) increased usage of
durable assets; (3) exchange of services; and (4) sharing of
productive assets. eBay and Craigslist are examples of the first
category. The second category includes car rental services such as
Zipcar or Car2Go, bicycle rental or sharing companies and ride
services (such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar). The second category also
includes lodging sharing companies such as Airbnb, HomeAway and
Couchsurfing. The third category includes companies such
