New York is just one step away from banning Airbnb outright - AirbnBulletin #3

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Each Tuesday I put together a summary of the latest Airbnb and holiday hosting news & tips that I think are useful to know. This is the first time I’ve posted it on this forum, so please let me know what you think.

New York is just one step away from banning Airbnb outright

Around 17,000 hosts in New York could soon find that they are breaking the law, just by listing their property on Airbnb. The New York Senate has passed legislation that could bring about an end to short-term rentals in the city. If passed, advertising your entire property (when you’re not there) for less than 30 days at a time will become illegal.

The bill was approved Friday and is currently being reviewed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has the ultimate decision as to whether it will be vetoed, or pass in to law.

“We learned about it, like, about 24 hours before it passed. We weren’t even able to inform our community. By the time we were informing our community, the legislature was already voting on it. I think [the legislature] was in a hurry to get home for summer, so there wasn’t really an appetite for a really long debate. We are looking forward to having a seat at the table, and having our community represented. We have 400,000 members in New York.”

  • Brian Chesky for AdWeek
  • Read more - Link
  • Related: What US Airbnb hosts need to know about big cities’ new policies - Link

Airbnb secures $1 billion debt facility from U.S. banks

The company has secured a $1 billion debt facility from some of the largest U.S. banks to help develop new services and fund growth campaigns. But what does this mean? I imagine a big chunk of this will be handed to Jonathan Mildenhall, Airbnb’s CMO, who is focused on increasing brand awareness among travellers all over the world.

KeyNest simplifies remote check-ins in London

With a network of pick-up points across London, KeyNest aims to provide London hosts with a simple service for helping guests check-in remotely. You generate a code, let the guest know what it is - and they can pick up the keys using the code at a nearby deposit point.

  • Take a look - Link

Hosting tips

Running a Vacation Rental business in Panama [Podcast: 1:05:00] - Link
Interior Design: Take your photos out of the frame - Link
6 Ways to Protect Yourself and Stay Within the Law - Link

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I’m in a Philadelphia suburb, and according to my township’s code enforcement officer, I live on my listing and I still appear to be breaking the law :frowning:

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That doesn’t sound good - is there any way that you can verify what they’ve told you?

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No, I never got any official violation notice or anything, and I’m left in the dark on the details of the violation…i don’t even know if a neighbor reported me or if someone from the township monitoring properties found my ad

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That sucks - so have you been served with a notice of violation?

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Nope…nothing…just a business card with a written message to call…nothing else. You’ll see this discussed in another thread

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Can you link me to it?

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