Short-term lodging service Airbnb last week put out a list of the “Top 16 Trending Neighborhoods on Airbnb in 2016.” It’s based on how much growth the site saw in bookings to those neighborhoods during 2015. The top finisher was Chūō-ku in Osaka, Japan, which accommodated 7,000 percent more travelers through Airbnb than it had the previous year.
I was surprised to find I have a personal connection to three of the 16. I lived in District VII of Budapest, Hungary, during one semester of college. I worked in the Richmond area of Melbourne, Australia, for a brief time to help finance a backpacking trip around that country. And I resided in a duplex in Dallas’ Oak Lawn for more than nine years.
That’s right: Of all the neighborhoods in all the world, Oak Lawn is the 11th-trendiest in Airbnb’s reckoning, boasting 260-percent growth in visitors. Only it’s probably not the Oak Lawn you’re thinking of. Look at the results you get when you filter for “Oak Lawn” on Airbnb’s map:
You see the problem? Likely because Airbnb relies upon Google’s often suspect definitions of neighborhoods, the site doesn’t recognize Uptown’s secession from Oak Lawn.
More of the listings offered sit to the south or east of the Katy Trail, meaning they’re firmly in the area that transformed as a result of Robert Shaw’s vision nearly 20 years ago. Most of the rooms on offer actually state that they’re located in Uptown, and yet “Uptown” isn’t available as a neighborhood filter.
Sorry, Oak Lawn. Your $30,000-millionaire little brother has a strong claim to this (admittedly meaningless) prize.
