Airbnb”s radio silence in our hour of need is the most frustrating aspect of all this. If you read about their legal challenges in Boston, New York, Las Vegas, and Santa Monica you see how much they fight to keep an arms length distance between a host”s posted content and their liability. Even if they just emailed all of their hosts on the island and said “we know you are nervous and have lots of questions and we just want you to know we are preparing to fight this.” Even that little but would be encouraging. But we are appear to be on our own.
The activity that is illegal on 8/1 is advertising.
Advertising, according to the bill, includes anything you do to induce a guest to rent. That includes not just listing on a hosting platform but all emails, texts and verbal conversations.
The existing of advertising will be prima facia evidence that illegal hosting is occurring.
There is no grace period for booking gs after 8/1 that we’re booked before 8/1.
Beginning on 8/1 , if unchallenged, Airbnb will be required to provide hosting data to the city including host name and address, length of stay and total revenue earned.
The city has up to six months from 8/1 to implement their complaint and enforcement procedures. Most of us would guess they will need every bit of that time to begin enforcement.
The allocation of those 1700 bed and breakfast permits that will be awarded October 2020 are area specific. As I recall from the map I saw, Kailua where I am, I will only get 173. So even if you can comply with district list of permit requirements you will not be one if 1,700 but one of a much smaller number based on your city/ area.
There will be a flood of long term rentals that come on the market. Because of this, we will be compelled to be extremely competitive. And this was exactly one of the primary goals of the anti VR groups.
There will be risk takers among us and people who attempt to be compliant. Most of all there will be disappointed guests, thousands of jobs lost, struggling homeowners, and countless business owners who likely will be shuttering their businesses.