Tenant Advocates: Professional Airbnb'ers with Multiple Listings Are Stealing Housing, Reaping Massive Profits
Airbnb is at major risk of another shakedown. Today, San Francisco residents vote on Proposition F, a citizen's initiative that could crack down on a seedy, but booming, business model under the $25B behemoth's banner.
In major cities like S.F. and NYC, professional landlords are posing as "regular people" renting out to tourists exclusively rather than those in need of rent-controlled housing, Business Insider reports.
This lack of quality control has some people slinking through loopholes to turn extra profits. A 2014 investigation found that $168M of Airbnb's $451M in revenue came from hosts who had at least three live listings.
Although CEO Brian Chesky has vaguely insisted on his company's "gold standard" on verifying the safety of hosts and their rentals, some users find participating as easy as filling out an online form. [BI]
