Photo via Airbnb
One little app is causing quite a stir this week.
Normally you would think letting a perfect stranger stay over at your house or apartment would be an easy endeavor.
As this week's news proves, such an enterprise can be a bit messy.
San Franciscan Treat:
The San Francisco Examiner reports things have become more difficult for property owners to simply rent their spaces on Airbnb.
There will now be a hurdle to consider.
READ MORE: How Hotel, Airbnb Rates Compare Around the World
Airbnb is now mandated to post listings for properties that are owned by people registered with the city. Failure to do so means a $1,000 fine. Hey, that's like rent for an hour in San Francisco anyway, right?
New Options:
Airbnb is adding more amenities to its service. The most intriguing is the ability to create wish lists across a group, which means your family getaway or friendly get together is that much easier to plan.
For business travelers, a third party can now book your Airbnb listing, which is perfect for the corporate traveler who has an assistant take care of all their respective plans.
More Like Berl-Out:
We previously reported on Airbnb getting the axe in Berlin. The Guardian reports a city court has upheld a ban, which means it's back to the hotel with the lot of you.
Shameful:
Fox News reports on the latest chapter in Airbnb's saga of discrimination by property hosts. This time it was a transgender woman who was denied a rental after she disclosed her gender to the owner. Airbnb, after a great deal of time and vitriol on Twitter, has suspended the host.
READ MORE: Airbnb vs. Hotel: Which is Right For You?
You Said It:
Apropos to the above story, Airbnb is holding its OpenAir conference this week. This gave CEO Brian Chesky the opportunity to speak out on the onslaught of stories and discrimination charges from travelers.
Chesky states, via Engadget: "First, let me make it clear that we have zero tolerance for any amount of racism or discrimination on our platform. Over the next couple months, we're revisiting the design of our platform end to end and look at how we can revisit decisions we've made."
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