If you have standards of integrity then just focus your energy on your own listing and making it a success .
Airbnb know . Your local planning team know. Move on.
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@muddy your secret is safe with me, haha. i’ll be sure to log in to the forums on my ipad, computer and phone in different locations in case this ever happens to me.
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You don’t even have to be in a different physical location, which I didn’t realize, not being at all tech-savvy. Each device shows a different IP address that websites read, even if your phone, laptop and ipad are all sitting there next to each other on your desk. Maybe everyone knows that, but I sure didn’t.
haha, we all could contribute a few stories!
Airbnb is worldwide. It is impossible for it to be aware of every condo, municipal, state/province and national regulation. Hosts can claim to meet all regulations but suffer little unless guests, neighbors, or some vigilant enforcement body notices. Given the notice that the problem listing already has locally, I would stay out of it and let the authorities and irate reviews take care of the matter.
How do you know it’s hurting your business? Because of the misrepresented parking amenity? Next time you see a guest, walk on over and ask them how they’re enjoying their stay and that you also have an STR across the street. Find out why they booked with them and not you or another local place. Thsi is important information that will help you improve your listing.
Then tell them the place they booked isn’t a locally permitted dwelling or STR and that the owner is misrepresenting parking and if the guest doesn’t mention it in a review, the next guests will have the same frustrations.
I talk to the local ABB full home and home share hosts near me and ask them about their listings. And I always ask my guests what attracted them to my home share. Always. It’s helped my business immensely.
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There is zero, nothing, nada, zipdedooda, that you can do. AirBnb does not care about you nor their parking. They only “care” about things that will legally affect them or that impacts PR.
Parking is not on their radar, You could complain about parking from now till doomsday and your complaint will go in the trash.
If a guest complained about a secret recording device, then the listing would immediately be taken down pending investigation. Or Bed Bugs. Or privacy intrusion…like entering without permission. Or certain kinds of discrimination. Then they react. Parking? = nope. Fake listings = nope. Listings that are not compliant = nope.
This is out of your control.
Recite the Serenity Prayer.
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I understand your advice not to make assumptions and get the facts.
Others here have focused on asking @Tomdhu to stick to his knitting, work on his business not getting distracted with this illegal activity of others. I think that’s good advice and I also understand why it might get under @Tomdhu 's skin. It would mine!
Still, the advice to focus on yourself, your conduct I really think is best. As it is, there is [slow] governmental action against the activity that @Tomdhu rails against.
I don’t know the laws in your jurisdiction. But – in theory – and it’s probably just in theory [but it is a risk] here in the U.S. if you go around bad talking someone’s business it could be a tort, tortious interference with contract. Or even slander if you get something wrong. Most people don’t have the deep pockets to sue you for this, but who knows?
Plus all of this is just a distraction from your business and the rest of your life, @Tomdhu , Turn your attention and energy inward.
So I wouldn’t do this above.
This is very good advice.
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Asking your own guests what attracted them to your listing is quite different from accosting another hosts’ guests as you suggest. If I were a guest and a neighboring host did that to me, I would consider it to be out-of-line and that the host was simply jealous of their host’s listing and trying to close down the competition.
And telling them “the next guests will have the same frustrations” is a big presumption that the current guests are experiencing frustrations.
If the place is illegal, that is for the neighbors to push their local authorities to deal with, not involve another host’s guests.
I’m not suggesting that a host never speak to a neighboring host’s guests- I often exchange pleasantries with my across-the-road neighbor’s guests, if I cross paths with them out on the road. And once when my neighbor wasn’t home and her guests were talking so loudly I could hear every word of their conversation while sitting on my patio as if they were seating right next to me (they weren’t obnoxious partiers or anything, just 2 middle/senior- aged couples), I wandered down the road to in front of their open-air casita, introduced myself, and said in a polite, friendly way that they just might want to know that sound travels here (it really does- it bounces off the hills and travels up the arroyo and sometimes you can hear conversations a block away) and that every word of their conversation can be heard. I made sure to say I wasn’t complaining (have no desire to cause my neighbor any bad reviews re “nasty neighbor”), but just that they might want to know that although the casita feels quite private, loud conversations aren’t.
They thanked me for letting them know and we went on to chat briefly about other things.
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You say
Blockquote Then tell them the place they booked isn’t a locally permitted dwelling or STR and that the owner is misrepresenting parking and if the guest doesn’t mention it in a review, the next guests will have the same frustrations.
Blockquote
Tell who? Do you suggest I go round and talk to their guests and tell them that the property is not authorised for human habitation?
If approached in a neighborly way, it’s not intrusive. I know my neighbors talk to my guests and they love the warmth of the 'hood. If done elegantly, it’s a big - “Hey I see you’ve rented the place - what brought you here and specifically that place? There are several in the area and this one’s always busy!”
Easy, elegant, and conversational. Plus you learn something.
And stop jumping down my throat with 7 paragraphs. I don’t read them.
If it bugs you that much and you really think that it’s hurting your business (let’s face it - it’s not, you need to look at your own listing and figure out what they are doing that you’re not if you’re never booked and they are). Plus it’s illegal.
Call your town council. I mean this is your issue - there are a multitude of ways to shut them down (which seems to be your issue as you want their business instead of improving your listing and parking isn’t the only reason they’re not booking with you). But dealing with ABB? not going to happen.
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Sorry I’m too long-winded for you, but if you had read them, you would see that I agree there is nothing wrong with talking to a neighboring hosts’ guests, as you say, in a friendly, non-intrusive way.
I just don’t think that pointing out illegalities or misrepresented amenities would be viewed by guests as non-intrusive.
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I’d go with “One Dead Mosquito” 
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Yes it would be great if Airbnb would take down non compliant listings. It would also be great if used car dealers never sold bad cars, real estate agents never sold rotting homes, airlines didn’t oversell flights and so on. This is why we have governments with enforcement power. Your local council should deal with this and we all know govt moves slow in most places because they follow due process procedures.
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The local government officers are really keen to close this down because the owner has abused the system at every stage. Aslo the local press are on to it following complaints from neighbours.
Newspaper
It’s also a ruin if you look out the back- notice the crack and the sagging roof
Property rear view
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Of course! How did I let that one get by me!? 
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It was in my head all week! I totally had a looking-for-and-hoping-to-find-a-one-dead-mosquito type of guest this whole week. 
Oh, Dear Lord! I have a “no neighbors” policy if I can catch it in time. They always want a “neighbor”/“friends and family” discount, too.
My fav was the grands-on-a-budget who wanted what in effect was about a 40% discount and the plan was to babysit/homeschool 10 yr old twins at my house while the parents worked at their own house up the street - for a couple of months at the start of the pandemic school year. That was all kinds of “NO THANKS” for me.
I just had a local with kids who lied about being local (I do take locals, just not from up the street). Stayed for 3 weeks. Nice enough but did I mention the puking and seeing them with my GOOD SHEETS strewn in the driveway while they hosed off vomit chunks. TWICE (seriously?! get the kid a garbage can…they’re more than enough available in the house!).
We had to super disinfect that place. All I need is for someone to find “One Dried Chunk” and it’s all over 
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Many years ago when on a road trip with my kids, we checked into a motel for the night, then went for dinner at the Denny’s next door.
We went back to the room, I got the 2 girls settled in their shared bed, and 2 minutes later, the 11 year old said, “I feel sick” and instantly threw up her undigested spaghetti dinner on the floor between their bed and mine.
That daughter was always Miss Sweet, who never wanted to cause any trouble. She said, “It’s okay, Mom, I’ll clean it up in the morning”.
Needless to say, I cleaned it up immediately.
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Awww, bless her heart. This is how these things went with my boys…
I had one puke a freshly eaten Mighty Fine double patty w/ cheese and jalapeños down the slide of his bunk bed. He NEVER GOT/WOKE UP. I found him with puke in his bed, on his head, and a looooong line down the slide and lumped in the carpet at the bottom. I think I cried the entire time I was cleaning it up (may have been prego w/ #4 at the time, in my defense).
I had one puke while we were walking through a crowd at Disneyland. The bathroom was in sight but no way we could traverse the crowd in time once he said he thought he was going to throw up. I grabbed a plastic bag I always kept on the baby stroller handles for incidental garbage, held his head in it, he puked, we knotted it up and dumped it in the next trash can.
The next thing out of his mouth was, “Can I have some french fries?”. Did I mention we never stopped moving the entire time?
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