But an economist here would point out that the incentives for the hotel industry to lobby for these laws are large and concentrated, while the incentives for th

But an economist here would point out that the incentives for the hotel industry to lobby for these laws are large and concentrated, while the incentives for the rest of the world to lobby against it are small and spread out. Because of the nontrivial cost of collaboration, the large and concentrated incentives win every time, the economy at large suffers a deadweight loss, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. (If you meet a Republican or Libertarian who praises deregulation of something, this is a primary reason why.)