Islington Gazette – All-night Airbnb rave turns Canonbury flat into ‘nightclub’ – with DJ and bouncer
March 8, 2017 Anyone trying to get some sleep in leafy Grosvenor Avenue was forced to contend with blaring music until 6am on Saturday morning, despite police and the council being called before midnight. Fed-up locals, speaking to the Gazette outside their homes, said cops, who arrived at 3am, were standing around for more than […]
Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa hoteliers look to Toronto for guidance to stop Airbnb ‘abuse’
March 8, 2017 Ottawa’s hotel lobby group will wait to see what happens in Toronto before pushing for regulations targeting Airbnb, but the hoteliers already know what they want from city hall. Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, said a municipal licensing system should restrict hosts to posting on Airbnb only their […]
The Tennessean – Bills to slow down or block Airbnb rentals in Nashville to be delayed
March 8, 2017 Metro Council members are delaying consideration of legislation that seeks to slow down the business of short-term renting in Nashville as they make one last attempt for a consensus that would — seemingly against odds — appease neighborhood activists, home-sharing companies and state lawmakers. The Metro Planning Commission was originally set to […]
New Jersey Law Journal – NJ Moving to Regulate, Tax Home-Sharing Industry
March 8, 2017 The New Jersey Legislature is taking the first steps toward regulating and taxing the burgeoning home-sharing industry, dominated by San Francisco-based Airbnb, even as some towns in the state have taken steps to ban the practice within their borders. The Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee has recommended passage of a […]
WKRN Nashville – Over nearly 2 years, hundreds of complaints filed on short-term rentals
March 6, 2017 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The Metro Codes Administration says it received complaints for 374 short-term rental properties over 22 months between April 2015 and February 2017. There are permits for over 2,500 short-term rental properties in Davidson County. Short-term rental properties are homes owners rent for a few days up to weeks […]
San Francisco Chronicle – City’s Airbnb battle pits Democrat against Democrat
March 7, 2017 I first heard about Chris Lehane when he was serving as a political strategist for the Clinton White House and I was running Salon, the online publication that burst into the national spotlight with investigative stories about special prosecutor Kenneth Starr and the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that was determined to impeach President […]
The Oregonian – Oregon woman sues Airbnb, says policy facilitates bias against black users
March 7, 2017 A Clackamas County woman is suing Airbnb, alleging the peer-to-peer vacation rental website facilitates discrimination against black users. The class-action lawsuit filed by Patricia Harrington takes aim at the company’s practice of allowing hosts to review a prospective guest’s full name and photograph before accepting a reservation. That, the lawsuit alleges, can […]
Fortune – Airbnb Faces Scrutiny Over Secret Tax Deals With Cities
March 7, 2017 Airbnb wants to sign deals with hundreds of cities by year’s end to remit more hotel taxes to local governments, part of an effort to clear some of the regulatory clouds hanging over the home-sharing company. But the language in the agreements is raising some questions. In a report published on Tuesday, […]
Financial Times – French hoteliers step up Airbnb fight over short-term lets
March 7, 2017 Hoteliers and their investors have launched a campaign to argue that short-term lets in many apartment buildings across France are illegal, as they step up their fight against competition from Airbnb. They point to the fact that under French law, short-term rentals of more than 120 days a year require specific authorization. […]
The Reykjavik Grapevine – Tourist Found Dead In Iceland AirBnB
March 7, 2017 A young American man was found dead at his Reykjavík AirBnB flat Saturday morning, reports Stundinn. The man was visiting Iceland with a group of friends to celebrate a birthday. He was discovered dead when he failed to wake up after a tour guide arrived at the apartment to pick up the […]