Dear Hello Host,
My name is Fiona. I have been a host here for over six years and I have enjoyed welcoming thousands of guest from all walk of live to my home. It been a great run but now the Building department of Weehawken and building owners are now cracking host down. It is pretty serious and stressful as a host especially if you are being sent to court and having to pay a fine to the housing department and then being evicted by your landlord and sued… I am writing today asking for two things.
1. That's we all come together as host and fight this to make hosting legal in the city of Weehawken just like Jersey City did and now they are allow to host and pay a small fees (Which is not a bad idea).
We as host are gaining from having guest so is this community. The stores and restaurants are making more money because of the guest who comes into the community. The new rental Bikes that are placed all around Weehawken are not being used by locals, the bikes are mostly rented and paid for by the amazing many guest.
The city are making most of their money from issuing tickets to drivers and fining tenants and other people. They can actually make way more money by taking some percentage from host. Jersey City is doing it, and West New York host are also fighting for the same. We can do the same as we are in a very nice and prime area which is over looking the NYC Skyline.
2. We can be careful or and hide and try not to get caught doing this and try to look out for each other.
There are groups of people out there who act as guest, asking to book your homes on Airbnb but they are actually paid to catch you and report you to the town and the landlords.
Two of my neighbour just got eviction last month due to him doing Airbnb as well.
If you or anyone you know have received a letter, been fined or warned, please let me know and I would appreciate all of your support and advise on how to go about this and I will appreciate it more if we can come together and fight this together in Weehawken alone, there are over 1000+ Host.
I hope to hearing back from you all.
Be careful, Stay safe and Happy Hosting.
Many thanks
Fiona
PS: Please Pass this one to Other Host