To the people who show up to stay in, or view a Pacaso timeshare:
By now, we have had a chance to exchange conversations with a few of you. We realize it must be uncomfortable to be greeted with signs and protestors. We want you to understand that our opposition has nothing to do with you as individuals and everything to do with the Pacaso timeshare model.
Pacaso vacation houses do not belong in residential neighborhoods for the simple fact that the fabric of a community is weakened when folks cannot know and rely on their neighbors. Northeastern University just released a study that shows “when Airbnbs increase in a neighborhood, so does crime.”
And the interesting thing is that it is less to do with the actual visitors, than with the disruption that occurs to the normal social dynamics of a healthy community.
A household of transient occupancy “pokes holes in the social fabric of the neighborhood.” Neighbors who don’t know each other, don’t watch out for each other. And the ties that bind one household to another, begin to unravel.
And though a Pacaso spokesperson will tell you that their model is different from Airbnb, the truth is, there are more similarities than not. A Pacaso vacation house consists of up to eight different share buyers who can only visit for 2-14 days at a time. They can gift a stay to anyone they like, and visits prompt a cleaning crew after each departure. This creates a revolving door of strangers not unlike an Airbnb or a short-term rental.