Precedent-Setting or a Footnote? Expedia and Union Reach Pact on Short-Term Rentals
Skift Take
Expedia Group, and its Vrbo unit, are willing to take a significant hit to their property listings in San Diego in exchange for an ongoing path to crystal clear legality in an important business and convention market. With other jurisdictions undoubtedly looking on, Airbnb has to decide if it will play hardball.
Whether it's short-term rentals versus hotels or ride-sharing firms versus the taxi industry, gig economy companies around the world have clashed with incumbents seeking to protect their turf.
In what the parties are characterizing as a first in North America, if not globally, Unite Here Local 30, a union representing some 6,000 hotel, airport, and restaurant workers in San Diego, California, signed a memorandum of understanding with Expedia Group on how to regulate short-term rentals in the city after years of contention.
For Expedia Group and other short-term rental platforms, the compromise would go a long way toward eliminating ambiguity over the legality of short-rentals in the city. The pact would also drastically thin the ranks of whole-home vacation rentals in San Diego. For the union, the tentative agreement would protect hotel jobs, reduce real estate speculation, and generate more affordable housing.
5-Year Battle
The city and the platforms have been battling over the short-term rental issue for the last five years or so. In 2018, the city approved regulations that would have banned many vacation rentals and limited other short-term rental stays, but didn't implement them after a coalition that included Airbnb, Expedia Group and Share San Diego threatened to take the matter to a voter refe
