Airbnb News

PCI Urges California Governor to Sign Insurance Bill on the Sharing Economy

The Property Casualty Association is urging California’s governor to sign a bill approved by the Legislature to ensure homeowners and renters offering rooms for rent on hosting platforms like Airbnb and Home Away understand what insurance coverage they have. Senate …

San Francisco Sued Over New Short-Term Rentals Rules

Airbnb has sued the city of San Francisco over a new law requiring short-term rental companies to remove unregistered hosts from their websites. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the company’s suit filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California …

EU Guidelines Seek to Limit Crackdown on Uber, Airbnb

European Union governments should not ban services like home-rental site Airbnb or ride-hailing app Uber except as a last resort, the EU says in new guidelines, seeking to rein in a crackdown on the “sharing economy.” In guidelines seen by …

Suit Against Airbnb Alleges Racial Discrimination in Housing Rentals

Airbnb Inc. was accused in a civil rights lawsuit of ignoring a Virginia man who said a host with the online room rental company had rejected his reservation request because he’s black. Gregory Selden, 25, sued in Washington Tuesday. He …

‘Cool’ Austin Icy Toward Uber, Airbnb, Bristling Tech Sector

Austin, Texas, boasts a reputation as one of most cutting-edge cities in the U.S, but new local regulations on ride-hailing apps such as Uber and rental sites such as Airbnb are stirring discontent in the tech sector, where some entrepreneurs …

California Bay Area Town Bans Short-term Rentals

A picturesque town in the San Ramon Valley, Calif. has banned residents from operating short-term rentals. The Contra Costa Times reported that Danville’s town council voted 4-to-1 Tuesday to prohibit rentals of fewer than 30 days. The town’s attorney said …

Questions Arise as More Mass. Residents List Their Homes on Lodging Sites

Marcus Ohanesian and Katie O’Connor’s apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts, is in a “family-friendly neighborhood central to the middle of Worcester” and a short walk to excellent restaurants and bars. Their living rooms, with hardwood floors and walls painted in pastel …

Airbnb Under Siege From Hostile Ballot Measure in San Francisco

Travelers worldwide may love using Airbnb to book vacation stays, but the company that revolutionized home-sharing faces a hostile ballot measure in the city where it was founded. Proposition F on the Nov. 3 San Francisco ballot would limit short-term …

GOP Candidate Rubio Criticizes Gov’t Regulation of On-Demand Economy

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio vowed to cap the number of regulations government can impose on businesses, particularly “on-demand” startups like Uber and Airbnb that he considers models for a changing national economy. Speaking in New York City on Oct. …

R.I. Consumer Alert Looks at Insurance Implications for Home-Sharing Rentals

Rhode Island’s Insurance Division is advising consumers to examine insurance implications when using home-sharing rental websites such as Airbnb. “Technology has changed the way people interact. There are now online solutions available that let people rent a room or their …