Brent Thomas from Airbnb has told Perth radio listeners ​that if the Hotel Industry has its way and the illegal use of housing is stamped out, pretty much the State’s Tourism Industry will collapse and the financial repercussions will be “devastating”​ ​- for Airbnb’s illegal income source and its illegal operators: “Millions and millions of dollars and thousands and thousand of jobs lost…” The Hotel Industry wants to create a “protection racket”. Our mate Brent Thomas: Airb

On Thursday, 22 November, at a Byron Shire Council meeting, Staff will give an update on the release of the Short Term Rental Accommodation Planning Framework by the NSW Department of Planning and the Environment. (See agenda, Item 13.21for full details.) Council will ask State Government to reduce the number of days that short term rentals can operate from 365 days to 90 days per year and, interestingly, “exclude short term rental accommodation from (to be nominated) areas

Correction: the Forbes Magazine article mentioned in our post yesterday is not current; the article is dated September 2015. Our referencing this article as current was an error on our part. We apologies for any confusion caused. Travel Weekly’s - Airbnb’s glitch has prevented some 23,000 Aussie ‘hosts’ from getting paid – is current (07NOV18). Reports indicate that Airbnb has on more than one occasion failed to pay its ‘partners/providers’. The complaints from users of Air

For a good eight weeks, Airbnb has been sitting on a little secret - it has been failing in its contractual agreement to pay its ‘hosts’ monies due to them. Back in September, Forbes Magazine broke the story. Airbnb’s Australian “distributors/partners” have been complaining bitterly via Facebook postings, and word has finally leaked here in Australia: Travel Weekly reporting that Airbnb’s glitch has prevented some 23,000 Aussie ‘hosts’ from getting paid. There is an ever-gr

“San Francisco couple who illegally rented out 14 apartments on Airbnb are hit with a $2.25 million fine by city.” The couple were forced to put up their real estate holdings as collateral to ensure that they pay the fine. Here in Sydney, back in 2007, well-know Short-Term Rental Operator “Con Kotis, the managing director of Australian Executive Apartments and 187 Kent Street Management Pty Ltd”, took the City of Sydney to the Land and Environment Court and lost. Kotis then

Tips from Airbnb’s ‘hosts’ on how to maximise the monetisation of the homes they control are abundant. (See photo.) Prostitutes find an Airbnb is cheaper than a hotel, and the Hotel Industry has seen its traditional ‘hot pillow trade’ decimated as sex workers move on to penetrate our residential buildings and communities. Across Politics, MPs are profiting from short-term rentals: Nationals Deputy Premier Barilaro’s Estate @ $1,957 per night, Labor Jodi McKay’s bargain @ $35

Remember Airbnb landlord Lynn Segal and her claim that the home-sharing website helps her afford to stay in her Newtown terrace? “With few job prospects and a low amount of superannuation, Ms Segal said her finances looked grim when she turned 60. Ms Segal said she did not want to get a housemate on a more permanent basis: "I wouldn't make as much money." A little bit of scrutiny revealed that Lynn and her unseen Airbnbpartner Craig Crenko in fact had two properties - esti