I think it can benefit in certain situations. Like when we traveled to a European country we stayed in an AirBnB that was being rented out while the family who lived there was in summer vacation. So they essentially got to subsidize their vacation with Airbnb.
As far as units that are permanently Airbnb style short term rentals though I agree. Terrible for the actual residents in the city.
Even then sometimes manufacturers will still use Amazon for fulfillment and shipping. I agree though, the shopping experience is pretty awful and I try to avoid it