When it comes to big changes, Airbnb is on a tear of sorts as it seeks to appease regulators, calm investors, and prevent users from running scared.
Last week there was a chain of announcements that Airbnb would begin collecting hotel taxes in New York City and San Francisco, its two largest markets in the U.S. This gets the short-term housing operation on the better side of municipalities worried about lost tax revenue when potential hotel guests turn to Airbnb instead.
There are two remaining challenges ahead for Airbnb and its users:
Most large cities where it operates ban a large portion of the type of short-term apartment rentals listed on the site.
In cases where the a city doesn't ban short-term rentals, hosts' own leases or condo and coop board rules often restrict this type of exchange.
In its new Terms of Service, which Airbnb emailed its users about last night, the service is trying to highlight the new tax rules as well as provide better guidance about local laws. All users must accept the new terms as of April 29. The previous Terms of Service were released in May 2012, before it became the behemoth it is today. It also updated both its Privacy Policy and Host Guarantee.
Airbnb outlines some top-level changes in its announcement, but we've taken a closer look and compared the new terms with the old terms for the three main areas of contention.
Tax Collection
The old version was short and sweet, just sticking to VAT and GST, and some vague mention of withholding:
“Tax” or “Taxes” mean any sales taxes, value added taxes (VAT), goods and services taxes (GST) and other similar municipal, state and federal indirect or other withholding and personal or corporate income taxes.
The new terms swap out the vague statement with part
