@Mike896 Craigslist is a general marketplace and they don't really have an image to uphold. It's a free place to post things, it isn't a company that generates billions of dollars and has a board of directors and shareholders to answer to. If someone is listing an item or anything on Craigslist, and a buyer finds they've been scammed, Craigslist takes no responsibility for that. They might take down a scam ad that gets reported, but they don't mediate between buyers and sellers, and they don't handle the money that is exchanged. They have no relationship with their users, no standards for the products offered on their site, and no policies other than the usual stuff like posting pornography and such.
Airbnb exists solely as a listing service for rentals, has an image they want to portray to the public, tries to have some standards for what they promote, and as Andrew explained, they can't risk being prosecuted or fined.
When regulators crack down on illegal rentals, you can bet they will also be finding those ads on Craigslist and other places and shutting them down. It's just a matter of time.
These short term rental regs are instituted for various reasons- because there is a shortage of affordable housing for locals who live and work in the area, because Airbnbs can be disruptive to residential neighborhoods, because of hotel lobbying, because the city realizes there is money to be made by charging hosts for licensing, etc. Also when there is licensing and inspections, this can rout out places that really aren't safe- things like allowing 10 guests in a place that should only be housing 4 due to fire exits, or housing people in a place that isn't zoned for that. Regulation isn't totally a bad thing.
As a home-share host myself, I can understand your frustration, although there aren't any licensing regs where I am. I would never rent my guest room long-term, because I don't want a full time roommate, and want to have it available when friends and family come to visit. So I'm not taking any long-term housing off the market just so I can make more money on short term rentals.
Nor am I hauling in tens of thousands of dollars in profits off my little guest room, and I'm not disturbing the neighbors- they'd never even know that girl walking to town from my house was an Airbnb guest, rather than my sister, unless I told them.
So it does seem like a bit much to require all sorts of licensing fees for simple home-shares, and in fact, in some places, the powers that be do make a distinction between that and entire houses taken off the long term rental market to fill with a constant stream of vacationers.
