The Manifesto for a Common Sense Approach to Regulating Airbnb

Is there a rational, logical approach to regulating short-term rentals from the likes of Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey? It's hard to tell, quite frankly, when you consider the many regulatory battles facing these platforms in cities around the world. In Berlin and soon, in Anaheim, Calif., short-term rentals are or will be banned, for example. In New York City, according to statistics provided by Airbnb, more than half (nearly 54 percent) of its rentals might be considered illegal. Why? Because they likely violate an existing law that bans rentals of 30 days or less for entire apartments. The state legislature recently passed a bill that would fine short-term rental hosts for advertising illegal listings on platforms like Airbnb, HomeAway, and FlipKey. It awaits the governor's signature to be signed into law. The city of San Francisco is being sued by Airbnb for wanting to toughen its existing short-term rental laws by fining Airbnb for allowing unregistered hosts to advertise listings on its platform. Amsterdam, a city that embraced home sharing early on, is also reconsidering revising its short-term rental laws. City officials have asked Airbnb to share information with them about commercial operators who might be violating the current laws, but Airbnb has refused to share that data with them. Instead, Airbnb said it would "continue discussions" with lawmakers. The Sharing Economy Is Here to Stay Needless to say, there are a lot of cities struggling with how best to address short-term rentals, but these rentals aren't going away anytime soon. There's a definite demand for the types of unique experiences that home stays provide. Airbnb just welcomed its 100 millionth guest in July after just eight years of operation. "Surely, a significant proportion, if not a large proportion of activities going through short-term rental platforms operating in New York City, for example, would violate the multiple dwelling law if they were investigated," said Greg Marsh, co-founder and CEO of onefinestay, a luxury homestay provider. Marsh said his company, onefinestay, however, has been very careful to comply with existing laws and will not advertise any listings that violate the current law. "What does that tell you? It tells you that you've not quite criminalized, but you've made problematic an entire graft of economic activity which the participants in the transaction want to engage in," Marsh said. It's clear an outright ban on short-term rentals d