Image: Adam Soften/Flickr
Advertisement
But while the company stood its ground and refused to hand over its user information, the market research firm Skift took it upon itself to pull the publicly available info on the AirBnb website and crunch the numbers. It used data extraction firm Connotate to do so, and inspired by that DIY effort, the state attorney's office did the same.Over 1,800 hosts had more than one apartment listing under their name—the top offender had 80 different apartments out for rent.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"Cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Hamburg are embracing the sharing economy and New York shouldn’t be stuck playing catch-up," AirBnb wrote in a statement after the hearing.Mittenthal accused AirBnb of complicating the issue with name-calling and PR tactics, and it's true AirBnb's slinging a fair amount of dirt at the state. "The government will accuse Airbnb hosts of being bad neighbors and bad citizens. They’ll call us slumlords and tax cheats. They might even say we all faked the moon landing," the company wrote on its blog, saying the AG "is determined to fight innovation and attack regular people."We strongly support innovation. But being innovative is not a defense to breaking the law.
Advertisement