Airbnb Creates Anonymous Complaint Hotline About Neighbors Renting Out Housing

Airbnb has bowed to the reality of growing complaints from neighbors who are bothered by legal and, frequently, illegal renting out of housing in their areas. The anonymous complaints can be about anything from too much noise to abuse of local ordinances limiting the number of days a house or apartment can be 'hoteled.'

 The hotline is a first, tactical step to address a larger, growig problem, which is that municipalities are beginning to set up offices of short-tern rentals, as San Francisco has done. After resisting community opposition for several years, Airbnb sees this as a means of injecting itself into the process before it totally loses control to government authorities. Whether it is too little, too late or a reasonable first step will depend on the effectiveness of the company's initiative. JL

Noah Kulwin reports in Re/code:

Airbnb has bowed to pressure from regulators on the issue of "illegal hotel" listings, which are a frequent target of neighbors' ire. Neighbors can submit information without having their name disclosed to a host or allow our team to pass along their contact information so the host can follow up with them directly. For more immediate action, your best bet is getting in touch with the relevant local authorities.

If you have a complaint against a neighbor who is renting out their home on Airbnb, you can complain to Airbnb about any issues that you might have.
If someone turned a nearby brownstone into a hostel or threw a few too many raucous parties, you can now visit airbnb.com/neighbors and tell the company about it.
"Neighbors can submit information without having their name disclosed to a host or allow our team to pass along their contact information so the host can follow up with them directly," the company said in a blog post. "Once a neighbor submits feedback, we will send a confirmation email, along with a case number." The Neighbor tool isn't the same thing as filing a complaint with the city. For more immediate action, your best bet is getting in touch with the relevant local authorities. In San Francisco, for example, you should get in touch with the Office of Short-Term Rentals.Over the last few months, Airbnb has bowed to pressure from regulators on the issue of "illegal hotel" listings, which are a frequent target of neighbors' ire.

In its Neighbor announcement post, Airbnb stressed that it pledges to "treat each case seriously.
"Hosting is a big responsibility and those who repeatedly fail to meet our standards and expectations will be subject to suspension or removal from the Airbnb community."