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Airbnb opens Florida political committee with $1 million

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Airbnb, the online marketplace that allows people to find and rent vacation homes, has formed a political committee in Florida, state campaign finance records show. “People versus the Powerful” was formed April 6 for the purpose of  “supporting or opposing statewide, legislative, multi-county and local candidates,” according to its statement of organization. Its chairman is Tomas Martinelli of Miami, Airbnb’s Florida director of public policy and a former Florida Department of Transportation official. For the committee’s first month of existence, the San Francisco-based company…

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Rene Plasencia stars in Airbnb promotional video

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Republican state Rep. Rene Plasencia and his family are starring in a new promotional internet video released Friday by the vacation rental home marketing giant Airbnb. The minute, 41-second video shows interviews with Plasencia, his wife Marucci Guzman, and their daughter, in scenes at vacation homes they have rented through Airbnb in Georgia and Tallahassee, as Plasencia and Guzman sing the praises of Airbnb. They talk about the price, convenience, and other advantages of renting lodging through Airbnb, rather than…

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Airbnb wins stay against Miami anti-vacation rental home rules

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Vacation rental home marketing giant Airbnb and five of its Miami hosts have won a preliminary victory in Miami that temporarily blocks that city’s ban on such operations in residential neighborhoods. In a suit that Airbnb and five vacation rental homeowners filed last week, Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday enjoining the city from enforcing its ban on short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. Miami’s city commission had approved a resolution in March that essentially interpreted…

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Bill sponsor bows out of fight over short-term vacation rentals

in Statewide by

The Senate sponsor of legislation crimping local restrictions on Airbnb and other home vacation rentals abruptly cried uncle Monday — confusing a committee room full of lobbyists, plus a few committee members. Sen. Greg Steube acquiesced in a late amendment by Sen. Jeff Brandes that essentially gutted his bill. CS/SB 188, as amended, passed on a vote of 5-3. “Just to be clear, this allows cities to currently do anything they that they currently can do under current law,” Steube…

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Showdown in Miami: Airbnb sues over vacation rental home ban

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Airbnb and five of its clients filed suit against the city of Miami Friday over a controversial move the city made last month to ban vacation rental homes in residential districts. At issue is whether and how cities can regulate vacation rental homes, a rapidly increasing part of the lodging industry in which homeowners turn their spare bedrooms or whole houses into short-term rentals to accommodate tourists and other visitors who prefer homes to hotels. The Florida Legislature essentially prohibited…

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Baseball has been very, very good to Airbnb

in Apolitical by

Apparently there’s nothing like a home-away-from-home for baseball fans wanting to take in Florida spring training. Airbnb, the leader in marketing vacation rental home, announced Wednesday that all 12 Florida cities that host spring training camps and stadiums for Major League Baseball teams saw remarkable spikes in bookings during the baseball spring training that ended last week. And the company’s surveys show most of that spike was due to baseball fans, coming down to catch a few spring training games…

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Sarasota County, Airbnb agree on rental tax collections

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Sarasota County has reached an agreement with online lodging and hospitality company Airbnb for the collection of Tourist Development Tax (TDT) for short-term rentals, a deal that will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue for the county. The Sarasota County Commission Monday approved the voluntary collection agreement, in which the Sarasota County Tax Collector will begin the reporting, collection and remittance of applicable TDT funds, otherwise known as the “bed tax,” on Airbnb’s short-term rentals and accommodations starting May…

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