Oh, for the love of... There are two sides to AirBnB. On the one hand, you have people who have a spare room and want to make a bit of money out of it. AirBnB

Oh, for the love of... There are two sides to AirBnB. On the one hand, you have people who have a spare room and want to make a bit of money out of it. AirBnB is great for them: that's its raison d'être. The site disrupts the horrible process in the past of going through Craigslist or something similar, having no guarantees about who might be turning up on your doorstep, handling payment, etc. Who could object to AirBnB being used for this? Not that many people. On the other hand, you have people who buy an entire house or block of apartments with the sole purpose being to rent the entire place out via AirBnB. This is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. 1. We, as society, have decided for better of for worse that we won't let people set up certain types of businesses in their homes without getting permits first. Bars, hotels, shops...society has decided that we want the ability to zone and keep some areas clear of commercial properties. 2. More importantly, to me at least, is that these buildings are frequently not up to fire code. Hotels need to comply with far stricter standards than residential homes, typically including mandatory sprinklers, clear signage, multiple egresses, etc. I'm more than happy to hear libertarian arguments around how zoning laws and the like serve no purpose. I can't think of any sane argument against fire and safety regulations for hotels: and that is what these properties on AirBnB are, hotels. Before modern fire codes, hotel fires were often devastating and horrific. These types of properties on AirBnB - and there are a fair few of them, both in SF and NY - are both a) unquestionably illegal, and b) in many cases unsafe. Say what you will about UberX, but at least you know that your driver is licensed and the car is being maintained and serviced (both being requirements for legally driving and joining Uber as a driver). You can't say the same about 'pseudo-hotels' on AirBnB.