Airbnb Lawsuit in New York Exposes Fake Listings Issue

What do you get when you cross two alums of the fine dining pantheon The Modern with the finest Italian seafood, creative cocktails and deep and esoteric wine list all in a gorgeously chic Soho setting? Say hello to Principe, which is fast becoming everyone's new favorite downtown destination.

Chinese tourists won’t be coming back to New York City at their pre-pandemic levels next year. Affordability and limited flights are two issues holding back the rebound, say travel executives.

Airbnb launched its Host Clubs in 2016, in part to help with local campaigns against regulatory clampdowns. Now, it is seeking to expand these clubs.

You'll be waiting a long time to get into Soho House in some of the world's largest cities.

For most New Yorkers, Times Square is a place to be avoided at all times—especially and unequivocally on New Year’s Eve. The Ball Drop looks fun and exciting when watched from the warmth and privacy of your couch but in real life, it looks like a million people packed between police barricades and squished up against each other in the cold for way too many hours, waiting for a 10-second countdown. And there are no public restrooms.

Young budget tourists are putting off trips to New York City. Maybe it’s because they are finding it harder to find affordable rooms.

As has been his habit about product changes, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tweeted about updates the company is making to this year’s summer release announced in May.

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who left his full-time role at the company a year ago, has sold more than $1.37 billion worth of his Class A shares since that time, including more than $1 billion so far in 2023, according to regulatory filings, Bloomberg reported. Gebbia still chairs the non-profit Airbnb.org, but more importantly, he retains the bulk — but not all — of his Class B shares, which now give him 19.8% of Airbnb’s voting power. Together with his two other co-founders, CEO Brian Chesky (30.6%) and Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk (26.9%), they control 77.3% of Airbnb’s voting power.

While reporting on the short-term rental saturation story last week, I got into some data-digging to find out which markets saw the largest increase in available listings. I was specifically interested in available bookable listings, rather than listings or occupancy, because the former is a factor in market saturation, which impacts home prices.

A New York state court judge dismissed an Airbnb lawsuit against New York City, ruling the city had a right to require host registration and licenses, and that it was reasonable to require that Airbnb — and other platforms — verify that listings have licenses, or face penalties.

Staying in hostels has always been something of a social thing given that you might end up staying with six or seven strangers in a bunk-filled room, and many properties have live entertainment and community events. But Dublin-based Hostelworld has integrated its own social network into its business to such a degree that is materially helping its financials.

Let’s face it: New York is hardly the first city to impose regulations on short-term rentals. Today is the official deadline for hosts to register their listings.