All Forum Posts by: Michael McKay

Please RSVP and find all details HERE ON MEETUP.

Local regulations are a hot topic among many hosts in the NYC area. This Meetup, presented by Attorney Kent Gubrud, will cover:

• Why renting out your apartment for less than 30 days does not convert the building into an “illegal hotel”
• Hotel taxes and why Hosts that rent out furnished apartments are NOT obligated to pay the
• How the Mayor’s Task Force is targeting and prosecuting short-term rentals within one- and two-family rentals and NOT just multiple dwellings (contrary to what many NYC politicians claim
• What specific actions must Hosts take to stop the City from conducting its illegal investigations and prosecution

Kent Gubrud is an NYC attorney with 30 years’ experience who, since 2012, has specialized in NYC short-term rental law (or “Airbnb law”). Based upon his substantial research and work, his contentions are that (a) NYC has no legal basis to prosecute Hosts for short term rentals and (b) Airbnb Hosts are not obligated to pay hotel taxes for their rentals. Attorney Gubrud took on and beat both NYC and the NYAG in their separate investigations of Airbnb Hosts beginning in 2013 and ending in 2016. Come hear Attorney Gubrud share some exciting news about some of his successes and what still needs to be done.

Thank you to Slice for sponsoring this Meetup:

Slice offers on-demand insurance. It's instant protection, offered in affordable bit-size chunks – when you need it. No hidden costs. Fast. Affordable. Fair. Protection designed specifically for homeshare hosts a tap or a click away. Visit www.slice.is and follow @SliceLabs on Twitter to learn more.

@Account Closed Thanks! Hope to see you tonight.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. When you arrive at 330 7th Avenue, please go to the 7th floor and ask for the Airbnb Hosts Meetup.

If you haven't already please RSVP HERE ON MEETUP. The event is free!

@Marc Jackson I decided to go with them. I really like the ability to create groups with different settings, as well as the minimum stay and orphan day functions.

I have this arrangement with several landlords and they are all happy with the deal. I pay market rent and handle the minor repairs, which the owners love because I'm not calling them about a leaking toilet like a regular tenant would. I also have my cleaning crew in each unit regularly, who notifies me of anything that needs to be fixed. By having a regular eye on things, small maintenance issues are addressed right away and don't become bigger problems down the line.

If your tenant is truly a professional short-stay operator I wouldn't be concerned. Here's a few things I'd address with them/look into to make sure you are covered:

• Do they have commercial insurance that specifically covers short-term rentals?
• What is their screening process for guests?
• Research the local laws around rentals of less than 30 days in your area
• How do they avoid parties from happening outside of guest screening? We have noise detection devices in each unit that notify us of noise over a certain level for 3 minutes or more.

Hope this helps!

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Learn how to design the perfect experience and make your guests feel special without breaking the bank. This Meetup will give you the tools to kick off the new year with kick *** reviews:

Our speaker, Selin Sonmez, is an expert at solving logistic and communication problems through design thinking. She is the co-founder of Knock Knock City , a startup that brings a sharing economy approach to luggage storage. Knock Knock City helps hosts provide their guests with 40+ locations to store their bags (not including the hosts living room).

RSVP HERE ON MEETUP

Thank you to  Slice for sponsoring this Meetup:

Slice offers on-demand insurance. It's instant protection, offered in affordable bit-size chunks – when you need it. No hidden costs. Fast. Affordable. Fair. Protection designed specifically for homeshare hosts a tap or a click away. Visit www.slice.is and follow @SliceLabs on Twitter to learn more.

@Edward Munoz Can you pm me your email, so I can send you a copy?

@Ethan Cooke I'd say it's definitely worth getting your own photographer. I've used the Airbnb ones before and haven't found them to be very good. The photos aren't bad, but they don't match the quality I'm looking for.

I also prefer to own the photos. It costs me $225 to shoot a unit and the money is quickly made back.

@Ethan Cooke I'm not as familiar with 30+ day stays, as the city we have all our units in permits short stay as long as you pay a 7% occupancy tax. 

For our listings, we have an amazing photographer which really makes us jump off the page when guests are browsing (we are the best photographed units in our). We also constantly tweak out listings to make sure we rank highly in the search. The search algorithms differ for each platform, but for Airbnb the main factors include response time to inquiries, instant book turned on, pricing, and reviews.

As others have mentioned, I would look into other platforms/websites that focus on corporate rentals. You may even want to reach out to some companies directly if you know of any who have teams who come for a few months for projects.

If you'd like to see some on our listings/photography send me a pm and I'll share the links with you.