I’m not sure you can blame short term rentals for this happening in desirable vacation spots worldwide. People have become much more mobile, and a decade of very cheap interest rates mean that there is no more “run down cheap cabin in the woods” any more. Even for owners who have owned those properties for many years, insurance costs and taxes have spike along with the housing costs.
I own a home in a very expensive area with extremely limited geography that prevents additional development, but also has in place a practical ban on short term rentals- 28 day minimum. This has not led to more affordable housing, but rather a lot of empty vacation homes owned by very wealthy people and $700/night hotel rooms. Also, locals being pushed out due to spiralling insurance and property tax increases. All without short term rental being a factor.
Id go so far as to say SaaS in general. Small startups are paying $5000/month to send emails and we’ve come to the point where inboxes are monopolized and if you don’t pay up to a cloud provider your emails end up in spam.
Take this and repeat for everything. Monopolize, ratchet up the costs, profit.