Save NYC sublets and vacation rentals from anti-competitive bill

I'd be more in favor of activism on this point if AirBnB made any effort to limit their rentals to owner-occupied apartments. Someone renting out a spare bedroom in their apartment, or a spare couch, is one thing, but someone renting out a dozen apartments that they have never lived in, as basically an unlicensed hotel, is quite different.<p>A good first step would be imposing a limit of one rental property per person on the site, and making at least basic efforts to enforce it.<p>To be fair, this is basically an NYC problem. I haven't seen nearly the same level of shadiness on AirBnB in other cities, where people renting out spare rooms and couches seems to be the norm. But in NYC, a lot of the AirBnB listings are unlicensed hotels and unlicensed hostels, not people renting out spare rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if a good number were affiliated with organized-crime groups, either, since those are the main operators of unlicensed hotels.

Services like AirBnB seem interesting, but I'm curious if they pay all the same taxes that hotels do. If hotels are paying to subsidize things like stadiums, but AirBnB can get away with avoiding that, I can see how the hotels would see that as unfair and lobby accordingly.

I think AirBnB et al need to make it clear that they are attempting to BE the regulatory system. The major argument behind bills like this is that regulation is a nightmare, and it's not an unreasonable one. Unless of course you understand how AirBnB works, and the kind of regulation it provides.

So their examples are someone illegally subletting their apartment (find me a Brooklyn waiter whose lease allows subletting) and someone who benefits from the taxed, regulated high hotel prices to by renting their spare room short-term. It's not terribly convincing, noble as the cause might be.

A worthwhile cause perhaps, but flagged nonetheless.