Social media home stay network Airbnb is in trouble. There are allegations of racial discrimination and racist abuse among Airbnb hosts. But wait…there’s more. Two of the biggest markets in America want to severely limit Airbnb. Airbnb verses New York and San Francisco is real. But Airbnb probably won’t win this one.
Today, Airbnb announced it will only allow limited listings in New York and San Francisco. Especially relevant is Airbnb’s headquarters are in San Francisco. Hence, this means as of November 1, 2016, an Airbnb hosts can only posts one listing at a time. This goes for all five New York City boroughs. But San Francisco already has these strict regulations in place.
Furthermore, the new policies are very timely. You see, Albany (New York’s state capital), owns this bill. The bill heavily fines rent platforms ?for violating state laws on short term rentals. All that’s missing is Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature. ?As a result, Airbnb will cooperate. They will enforce a ‘3 strikes you’re out’ law. Therefore, if any Airbnb hosts violates these new laws in NY city 3 times; they will no longer hosts from Airbnb. In San Francisco, they’re trying to limit short term rentals to 60 days a year or less. That’s what the bill in Albany is about.
Airbnb will have problems hosting college students and foreign exchange students. That will cut a chunk into their profits and those of the hosts. But there is also the list posting rule. Suppose a person has two properties in New York City, or 2 properties in San Francisco? These are 2 of the richest cities in America. Consequently, people tend to do that. The cynic is me asks why are local governments clamping down like this? Are they really making a level playing field for all short term rentals? Or are they punishing Airbnb? But what about the racial issues Airbnb is having? Is Airbnb in trouble?