by Donald Wood
Last updated: 3:09 PM ET, Fri July 14, 2017
A recent report suggests Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado proposal earlier this year to ban Airbnb-style rentals in a majority of the city may have been influenced by hotel industry lobbyists.
According to the Miami News Times, Regalado originally proposed a new law in February that would ban Airbnb and companies of the same ilk in order to protect residents from dealing with properties in the area becoming de facto hotels.
In a series of emails obtained by the Miami News Times, Regalado reportedly received messages from a lobbyist with the Jorge Luis Lopez government-affairs firm, including one with a copy of an ordinance Fort Lauderdale passed in August 2015. The proposal Regalado submitted earlier this year was simply a copied-and-pasted version of the one he received from the lobbyist.
The matter was taken to court in April, when Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko questioned whether Regalado's decision to ban Airbnb-style rentals was influenced by his interaction with hotel industry lobbyists.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Airbnb is Now Worth Over $30 Billion[/READMORE]
When asked about the situation by the New Times, Regalado said he had met with both hotel industry leaders and Airbnb officials once, but ultimately went against the short-term rental company because it would better serve the residents of Miami.
The fight in Miami is just one of many raging between the hotel industry and Airbnb-style rental companies. Hotel giants believe the rise of short-term rentals has forced them to slash prices and lay off employees, but Airbnb says those claims are just the hotel industry's way of eliminating competition.
The concerns about Airbnb taking over the hotel industry have been well publicized, but a recent report indicates that's not the case. According to SeekingAlpha.com, hotel REITs have outperformed the REIT index by 20 percent, and Google Trends data indicates Airbnb growth is already decelerating.
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