Airbnb Spokesman Discusses Global Home-Sharing 'Movement'

At the Airbnb Open LA conference, its Head of Global Policy, Chris Lehane, gave a presentation talking about the opportunities and challenges facing the global home-sharing 'movement'. Lehane likened host clubs to guilds and unions in their quest for building organizing power against governmental regulations, for example, ones that would force the company to purge commercial operators and cap the number of days a unit can be rented. The company has come under heavy criticism for allowing illegal hotels to skirt zoning laws and industry regulations, and impacting affordable housing shortages in many major cities. Although Airbnb has consistently pushed back on providing information on its platform and hosts to regulatory officials, Lehane claimed that transparency and fairness are bedrock principles to the company. Sponsored by American Family Voices for AirbnbWatch.org.