Skift Take
Sometimes a lawsuit can serve as a proverbial big stick.
The major players in short-term rentals — Airbnb, Expedia/Vrbo and Booking.com — seldom work together as a unit when faced with tough city crackdowns around the world.
And so it was controversial June 1 when Airbnb and three hosts filed lawsuits seeking to block the City of New York from implementing a law in July that would have required hosts to register with the city and cede to a variety of rules — such as door locks on every bedroom and attestations about understanding construction codes — that Airbnb alleged amounted to a "de facto ban."
After several months of eligible enrollment, only a handful of hosts had registered by the time the lawsuits appeared on a New York State docket. That