Airbnb Lobbying For Local And State Regulations In Boston

Airbnb has been in some bruising battles this year. The home rental platform lost a fight over a New York state law signed in October which called for fines up to $7,500 for listing a property to rent for less than 30 days on a site like Airbnb.

But Airbnb did reach a compromise with New Orleans earlier this month. In exchange for legalizing short-term rentals, entire homes would be listed for no more than 90 days a year, and the only listings in the historic French Quarter would be properties that are commercially zoned.

This afternoon, short-term rentals on sites like Airbnb were the subject of a Boston City Council hearing. There's no specific regulations proposed yet; city councilors are just gathering information. We spoke to an adviser to the company about what they're expecting.

Will Burns, senior adviser at Airbnb. He tweets @CitoyenBurns.