Skip to main content

Airbnb hires team of former city mayors to serve on advisory board

Punta Jaguar — Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
Punta Jaguar
Following backlash from local governments regarding its operation in many cities, Airbnb is creating a team of former mayors to help navigate its challenges to find solutions.

On Friday, the company announced an advisory council made up of four former mayors from Houston, Philadelphia, Rome, and Adelaide, Australia, Bloomberg reported, and “hopes to add more mayors, especially from Asia, Latin America, and other regions.”

Since the company has seen significant growth since it formed in 2008, it’s had to deal with a number of legal issues with city governments, usually regarding its effect on housing supply and prices, as well as taxes. Its most recent and perhaps most notable battle was with the New York State Senate last month, when a bill was passed that would outlaw the service from advertising unoccupied apartments for short-term rentals.

Company spokesperson John Meltzer told TechCrunch at the time that he was disappointed, but not surprised that “politicians in Albany cut a last minute deal with the hotel industry that will put 30,000 New Yorkers at greater risk of bankruptcy, eviction or foreclosure.”

At the same time, New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who sponsored the bill, said it would prevent people from legally operating house-sharing business, rather than using the service the way that the state prefers.

Hoping to sidestep any further run-ins with city governments, Airbnb seeks to come to a common ground regarding its business practices. Last week, three U.S. senators “attempted to elevate the issues to a national level last week, when they sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking the regulator to prove the industry,” Bloomberg reported.

Airbnb spokesperson Christopher Nulty told Bloomberg that the mayors on the advisory board will meet quarterly and will be paid, serving in ambassador and consultancy roles for specific problems. The company also brought in former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as an adviser last week to focus on “strengthening corporate policies around racism and other discrimination on the site.”

Editors' Recommendations

Harrison Kaminsky
Harrison’s obsession in the tech space originated in his father’s electronics store in Denville, New Jersey, where he…
How to change your language in Google Chrome on desktop
Chrome OS

Google Chrome supports a wide range of languages. While it'll default to English in most cases, there's nothing stopping you from changing its settings and displaying pages in Spanish, French, or dozens of other languages.

Changing your default language in Chrome takes only a few seconds, and the technique used is the same across Windows and Mac. Aside from changing your language, note that Chrome now gives you the option to automatically translate pages written in another language – making it easy to read content from around the globe.

Read more
23 of the best Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks
The Netflix home screen.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites! 
Expand your streaming with a VPN

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more