Airbnb Partners With Brooklyn Chamber to Woo Tourists for Brooklyn Businesses
More Airbnb users travel to Brooklyn than nearly any other destination. And while rental inspectors are largely turning a blind eye to the legally-questionable home-share listings in Kings County, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce knows opportunity when they see it. The Chamber announced a new partnership with Airbnb on Wednesday, encouraging Brooklyn hosts to endorse and patronize…
More Airbnb users travel to Brooklyn than nearly any other destination. And while rental inspectors are largely turning a blind eye to the legally-questionable home-share listings in Kings County, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce knows opportunity when they see it.
The Chamber announced a new partnership with Airbnb on Wednesday, encouraging Brooklyn hosts to endorse and patronize local businesses, while also coaching business owners to better meet the needs of out-of-town visitors, Crain’s reported.
This kind of relationship is already organically occurring in Brooklyn, where hosts have been known to leave keys with their local bodega and point their guests to the best eatery on the block. But this new official partnership presages a smarter and more systematic way of linking neighborhood hot spots with tourists who might otherwise leave Brooklyn for the lights of Times Square.
Airbnb’s presence in New York is not without controversy. It is currently illegal under state law to rent an entire apartment, and critics say that apartment-sharing sites like Airbnb make the city even less affordable.
[Sources: Crain’s | WNYC | NYPost]
Disclosure: the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is a client of Blankslate, Brownstoner’s parent company.
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I’m sure this isn’t the last word on the subject, but at least according to the Rent Guidelines Board of the City of NY, a two family house is NOT a “multiple dwelling” at all (which is defined as three or more units); nor is it a “Class B dwelling.” It’s a “private” dwelling. http://www.nycrgb.org/html/resources/hmc/sub1/art1.html
And as far as I can see under all the prohibitions regarding rental of entire apartments, those regulations don’t cover private dwellings. So unless I’m missing something (which is quite possible), if one owns a two unit building, it should be legal to rent an entire apartment therein through AirBnB or similar services.
“It is currently illegal under state law to rent an entire apartment, and critics say that apartment-sharing sites like Airbnb make the city even less affordable..” I don’t believe that’s accurate. My understanding is that under NYS law, it’s illegal to rent an entire apartment for less than thirty days in a Class A multiple dwelling – which is a building with three or more apartments. In Class B buildings, which I believe includes two families (and thus a lot of brownstones), that regulation doesn’t apply. Of course if there’s a tenant occupying that apartment already who chooses to make money through AirBnB, their renting it out may be a violation of their lease. But if the owner of a Class B building chooses to rent an entire apartment through AirBnb for stints of less than thirty days, my understanding is that there’s no violation of NYS law.. Perhaps an expert on this legislation could clarify.