Hi @Suzanne, ever the optimist, I think I see a faint glimmer of hope on this subject. Why? Because of this paragraph in the New Terms of Service (under Payments Terms of Service) which everyone was supposed to agree to on May 19:
"Opt-in to Host Remittance of Taxes
In any jurisdiction in which Airbnb facilitates Collection by Opt-in for Host Remittance pursuant to the Airbnb Terms, you hereby instruct and authorize Airbnb Payments to send Occupancy Taxes received from Guests at the time Accommodation Fees are collected to the Host who is obligated to send such taxes to the Tax Authority directly. You hereby agree that through third party payment processors, Airbnb Payments is merely processing Your election and direction to have Occupancy Taxes from Guests sent directly to the Host for remittance by the Host to the Tax Authority, and that You will remit all amounts collected from Guests as Occupancy Taxes to such Tax Authority. You expressly agree to release, defend, indemnify, and hold Airbnb Payments and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their officers, directors, employees and agents, harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, debts, obligations, and expenses, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and/or accounting fees, arising out of or in any way related to Occupancy Taxes, including, without limitation, the applicability of, calculation of, collection of Occupancy Taxes in any amount or at all as to your transactions or Accommodations. Hosts and Guests further expressly grant Airbnb Payments permission, without further notice, to store, transfer and disclose data and other information relating to them or to their transactions, bookings, Accommodations and Occupancy Taxes, including, but not limited to, personally identifiable information such as Host or Guest’s name, Listing addresses, transaction dates and amounts, tax identification number(s), the amount of taxes received by Hosts from Guests, or allegedly due, contact information and similar information, to the relevant Tax Authority."
This leads me to believe that Airbnb is developing a system for hosts like you and me to collect the HST (in my neck of the woods it is TOT: Transient Occupancy Tax). They seem to have the legalese in place, now they have to implement the software. I'm sure that Airbnb has heard the howls of hosts who are frustrated.
Let's hope I'm right!