As
Airbnb prepares to go public this year, the home-share giant is making moves to show it’s a good
neighbor to communities where its rental marketplace operates.
The
company says it is launching a new “City Portal” to give government leaders
and tourism organizations “actionable insights” about Airbnb’s work in their
communities, tools for regulatory compliance and centralized technical support
and resources to rebuild tourism revenue.
The
platform is launching as a pilot with more than 15 cities and tourism
organizations in this first phase, including Calgary, Miami-Dade, New Orleans,
Seattle, Visit Tampa Bay, Visit Tuscany, Visit Denmark and more.
“We
created this tool with cities and our goal is to ensure it works for big cities
and small towns and is adaptive to different needs,” says Airbnb co-founder and
CEO Brian Chesky.
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“The
way we live and travel continues to change, with people dispersing to more
places. The Airbnb City Portal will make it easier for cities of all sizes to
work with us and benefit from our community.”
The
portal provides a dashboard that includes local and global Airbnb data about
short-term rental market characteristics and remitted tourist tax revenue in
places where tax agreements exist; compliance tools to help governments develop
and manage short-term rental policies and regulations; links to existing
resources such as the Airbnb Neighborhood Support hotline and Law Enforcement
portal; and direct access to an Airbnb team member.
Airbnb
says it will use feedback from its pilot partners to add new features and tools
as it expands the portal to new markets.