Hotels and registered lodging providers (including B&Bs) are subject to a range of safety regulations in terms of occupancy, fire codes, inspections, etc. Thing

Hotels and registered lodging providers (including B&Bs) are subject to a range of safety regulations in terms of occupancy, fire codes, inspections, etc. Things we take for granted, like fire sprinklers, fire alarms, multiple exit routs and backup illumination. They're important when you have a bunch of people in a building who are probably unfamiliar with its layout, like a hotel or commercial space. They're also generally going to be required by anyone willing to write liability insurance, etc for the business. Additionally, you have taxes and fees charged by a city that help defray the cost of regulating and inspecting those providers, as well as helping cover city services utilized by visitors (who probably do not pay income tax, etc locally.) I suspect that if AirBNB users had to carry commercial liability insurance, submit to inspections and file proper taxes, the appeal of hosting would go way down.