Office chit chat (subtitle, I'm an inn snob)

[Generic]

Airbnb wouldn't be having problems if it didn't try to advertise itself as what it is not. All the government would have to do is say, "Excuse me Airbnb, since you have the name "bnb" in your name and advertise as that along with hotels, inns, and guest houses, these are our terms. You got this amount of time to bring your places up to code or else. End of story… Think of all the wonderful things our towns, states, and country can do with all that extra income. As I type the city hall is undergoing major remodeling. Bet Airbnb can pay for it for them in just back taxes..

Isn't tax evasion in the US generally prosecuted under the RICO statues when it's widespread? I wonder what the head of AirBnB would do when presented with those papers...

 

[OnTheShore]

Interesting article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-19/bank-of-america-just-downgraded-hotels-due-to-threats-like-airbnb
For our part, Air sends a decent amount of business to us to help fill our shoulder seasons -- we're even considered "SuperHosts!" We do of course indicate on all of our listings that we are a state licensed and inspected lodging provider, with our state ID number, and that we do need to collect the required lodging tax on top of the rates indicated. We also drop lots of hints in our descriptions about how we can be found outside of the Air site -- subtle enough to avoid being blocked by Air's filters, but hopefully obvious enough...