Skip to main content

Airbnb’s new ad campaign aims to convince New Yorkers it’s good for their city

airbnbs new ad campaign york city airbnb
Image used with permission by copyright holder
New York City hasn’t exactly embraced Airbnb with open arms. The city’s hotels have accused the company of violating several New York state laws and running a series of illegal hotels. In addition, New York legislators believe that many Airbnb hosts are breaking housing laws and the terms of their lease agreements. For its part, Airbnb contends that its service is perfectly legal and if it’s not, it should be.

The company aims to convince lawmakers to revise a 2010 law that forbids New York City residents from renting their apartments for less than 29 days. It also hopes to find a way to pay taxes just like hotels do. In New York City, those who rent hotel rooms are taxed a 14.75 percent occupancy tax, which then goes to the hotel. Airbnb wants to collect that tax for the hosts, so they don’t have to and then pay them back.

So far, lawmakers haven’t warmed to Airbnb’s proposals, landlords continue to argue against the company, and hotels claim that the service is damaging their business prospects. Having hit a legal brick wall, Airbnb decided to take its arguments to the streets.

The company has an advocacy website, is airing several commercials with Airbnb hosts who say the service has earned them much needed extra income, is sponsoring the NYC marathon, and now, it’s posted tons of ads all over the subway.

“New Yorkers agree: Airbnb is good for NYC,” read the ads, which display photos of the hosts from the company’s commercials. The ads are located in subway stations and in the train cars themselves. As with any massive ad campaign in the NYC subway, Airbnb’s ads dominate nearly every advertising service in the train car.

It’s unclear how well the ad campaign will work on New Yorkers, but it’s undeniable that Airbnb does bring a lot of money into the city overall, infusing local businesses with cash, revitalizing neighborhoods that tourists wouldn’t normally visit, and boosting apartment owners’ and renters’ incomes.

According to Airbnb’s statistics, the service brought $632 million into the city in 2013 alone. The company also says that 82 percent of its hosts offer apartment spaces outside of typical tourist zones, which helps spur growth in other neighborhoods. In an attempt to make lawmakers happy, Airbnb also says that NYC stands to make $21 million in taxes if it supports the company.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
The Galaxy S24 just got a big camera update. Here’s what’s new
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Titanium Orange and in Titanium Silver.

Samsung Galaxy S24 owners just received some great news. Samsung recently released an April software update that addresses various camera issues. Unfortunately, this update is only available in South Korea, but according to information posted on the Samsung Korea forum, it is expected to be released in other regions soon.

Firmware version S928NKSU1AXCA is almost 800MB in size. It includes improvements for lowlight images and image colors in Samsung's Expert RAW app, improved text clarity when zooming in photo mode, and support for 480 x 480 resolution when recording Instant Slow-Mo videos. The Galaxy S24 update for April builds on the improvements from the previous February release, which included enhanced zoom, portrait mode, night mode, and rear camera video capture capabilities.

Read more
Apple just announced the dates for WWDC 2024
WWDC 2024 banner.

Apple has just announced the dates for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. WWDC will take place from June 10 through June 14, 2024. A special event will be held at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on June 10, and we expect to see the reveal of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, macOS 15, and visionOS 2.

WWDC will be free for all developers online. Developers will be able to access a variety of online sessions and labs that will showcase the latest advancements in software across all of Apple’s hardware.

Read more
Does the Moto G Stylus have NFC?
Moto G Stylus 5G 2023 leaning

The Motorola Moto G Stylus is a line of midrange Android smartphones, each of which comes packing a stylus — as the name ,akes clear. The two latest models are the Moto G Stylus (2023) and the Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Although these models are similar, they have some noticeable differences, including their support for near-field communication (NFC) technology. This article will examine which Moto G Stylus models come with NFC and which do not.
What is NFC?

Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology that lets two gadgets communicate with each other when they are within a few centimeters of each other. It is useful for touch payments, e-tickets, data sharing, and effortlessly linking devices via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Read more