Airbnb Buys Into Kansas City Potemkin Village World Cup Storefront Scheme

Context . . . 

A Potemkin village is an impressive, fake facade designed to hide an undesirable reality, creating a false appearance of prosperity or progress. Originating from a legend about Grigory Potemkin in 1787, the term now represents any deceptive construction—literal or figurative—used to mislead, such as fake towns, empty buildings, or manipulated data to impress observers. 

Apparently . . .

Tech corps MIGHT NOT have used any online searches before plunking their cash down . . .  

When the games arrive this summer, Kansas City is expected to welcome about 11,000 Airbnb guests, generating an estimated $105 million in economic activity, the company said, noting the investment is designed to ensure that increased visitation directly benefits local entrepreneurs, small businesses, and neighborhoods across the urban core.

“Kansas City’s entrepreneurs are some of its best ambassadors, and Open Doors! is giving them a platform at exactly the right moment,” Vincent Frillici, government affairs lead for Airbnb. “This investment is about making sure that when the world arrives, the economic opportunity reaches the entrepreneurs and small business owners who are the heart of this community.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Airbnb invests $100K in city's World Cup push to get pop-up businesses into storefronts