Key Takeaways

  • Airbnb policy chief Patrick Dillon called New York City’s short-term rental restrictions “draconian” during a POLITICO interview
  • Dillon argued the rules have not delivered cheaper rents or more housing availability and instead pointed to higher hotel prices
  • Airbnb says 60 percent of its hosts use hosting income to help cover rising household costs

Airbnb is pointing to New York City as a warning for other communities considering tighter short-term rental rules.

Patrick Dillon, Airbnb’s head of public policy for the U.S. and Canada, took direct aim at New York’s harsh STR restrictions during an Aug. 11 POLITICO interview at The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit event, arguing the city’s crackdown has failed to deliver the housing benefits supporters promised.

Dillon says it’s obvious that rents have continued climbing while hotel prices have become even more expensive. But nobody’s talking about it, and many people are still trying to point the blame on short-term rental properties.

“In New York they passed a draconian restriction on short-term rentals a couple years ago. The goal being extensively to make housing more affordable and more available,” Dillon said during the on-stage media interview. “We now have quite a bit of data to show us what happened, which is rents have continued to go up. Vacancies are flatlining. What has gone up are hotel costs.”

“For anybody who’s been in New York lately and paid $700 a night for a shoebox, that is a direct result of misguided policy claiming to do one thing and instead achieving the other,” Dillon added.

The comments offer one of Airbnb’s clearest criticism’s on New York’s harsh short-term rental rules that have shut out hosts.

Airbnb says New York shows what can happen when STR rules go too far

Dillon also pointed to major events as an example of why cities need to allow short-term rental inventory.

He cited the World Cup and said New York’s restrictions pushed some travelers across the state line to stay in New Jersey instead.

For Airbnb, the argument is straightforward: cities need places to put visitors when demand suddenly jumps, and existing homes can provide that extra capacity without requiring hotels to build enough rooms for a temporary surge.

“Communities need more flexible capacity,” he added. “Our hosts are that.”

Related: South Bend weighs new short-term rental rules as listings climb to 1,500

Airbnb argues hosting income is helping homeowners stay afloat

Dillon also used the interview to push back on the idea that Airbnb hosts are primarily large investors running vacation rental businesses.

He went back to Airbnb’s beginnings, when the company’s three founders rented out space in their San Francisco apartment because they needed help paying the bills.

“Our company started with three founders who were in an apartment in San Francisco trying to figure out how to make the rent,” Dillon said, adding that a lot of hosts are still doing that via hosting.

He also pointed out the fact that rising household expenses remain a major reason people open their homes to guests.

“Sixty percent of our hosts tell us that they are hosting in order to help meet the rising costs of their home, the general cost of everything going up, five dollar a gallon gas and at the same time, they’re bringing economic impact into their communities.”

Airbnb has contributed upwards of $14 billion in GDP in California alone, the policy chief confirmed, while using the figure to argue that hosts don’t just earn money for themselves but also bring spending into restaurants, shops and other local businesses.

His broader message was that homeowners should be allowed to earn income from their properties while cities focus on the underlying causes of housing shortages.

“On the housing front, we want to be supportive as I said of good policy that solves the problem at the root which is build more affordable housing,” said Dillon.

The fight over local STR rules is far from over

For hosts, the stakes in these policy fights can be much more immediate than Airbnb’s broader corporate strategy.

A new city ordinance can change permit costs, minimum stays, occupancy limits or whether a property can operate as a short-term rental at all.

That’s why Airbnb’s public policy team is increasingly making its case directly to government leaders and policy-focused audiences.

Airbnb says it wants to work with communities on regulations, but Dillon’s New York comments also make clear where the company believes cities can go too far.

New York has become the example it can point to when arguing that restricting short-term rentals doesn’t necessarily solve a city’s housing problems and may leave travelers paying more for somewhere to stay.

For STR owners, the Empire State example gives policymakers something else to consider before assuming tighter rental rules will deliver the housing results they promise.


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