Airbnb Gets New Power to Inform on Rivals When They Are Scofflaws
Skift Take
Is the Boston-Airbnb settlement, which calls for short-term regulatory platforms to comply with a city ordinance, a model for future agreements? Too soon to tell but what's clear is that the alternative accommodations industry will one day transition from outliers to regulated entities.
New Airbnb settlements with Boston and Miami Beach legitimize alternative accommodations in those cities, but also give the homesharing giant new leverage over competitors.
Airbnb settled with the two cities to provide hosts' information and to delist those who aren't registered, and the Boston agreement also notably requires "fairness across platforms."
This entails efforts to level the playing field — not so much among short-term rental platforms and hotels necessarily but, in this instance, between Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Expedia/Vrbo, TripAdvisor, and others. Google, which is in the initial phases of becoming a short-term rental platform, may also find itself subject to toeing the regulatory line.
The Airbnb-Boston pact (see settlement agreement embedded below) enables the two parties, "upon request from Airbnb," to confer about compliance with the city's ordinance when any "platform operating as a booking agent" doesn't have an agreement with the city.
The information that Airbnb would provide to the city "shall include non-confidential information concerning any fines or other enforcement action against said platform," meaning Airbnb's competitors, according to the agreement.
Airbnb is generally the most-high-profile short-term rental platform in the world, and when critics, including hotels, neighbors, and regulators think of clamping down on short-term rentals, Airbnb often gets most of the heat while companies such as Booking.com, which has a huge shor
