I had to apply for a variance for my Airbnb (you'll see the whole story at the last post of this thread) and I got denied. too many neighbors opposed. When applying for a variance, it gets a number of nearby neighbors involved, and if they didn't know what you were doing then, they will not.
My variance was denied because Airbnb use is classified as tourist use, which is not allowed in residential districts. In June of this year, right around the time I was reported. they came out with an ordinance to only allow transient dwellings in commercial districts, but I've had my listing up long before then...before there were any oridinances at all about transient use. I own and live in my house (it is a single-family home, not in an HOA), even after explaining it to the zoning board, it did not score with them.
I have a chance to appeal, but I will have to see if the financial trade-off is worth it, and if I do not get a number of hosts on my side, then i will just lose the battle again like I did for the variance meeting. if those same neighbors are notified that I'm appealing, then it may not be worth the money and effort. They will just show up and oppose it again.
Lawyers are rather useless, I spoke to a few and they did not want to get involved in issues like this, and they just told me to apply for the variance. Thank god I did not spend money on one for representation at the zoning hearing, because me and one lawyer would not have won this with that many neighbors showing up and opposing.