Airbnb fights back after San Francisco registration proposal

Lawmakers in San Francisco have made it increasingly difficult for Airbnb operators to register for the necessary permits to continue using the site to rent their homes (or rooms in their homes) to travelers, according to the company.

A post on the Airbnb Action site alleges that “the Board of Supervisors recently passed a hastily-crafted proposal requiring Airbnb to remove all unregistered hosts.”

It didn’t stop there. The city will fine Airbnb $1,000 a day, starting next month, for every unregistered host that it allows to use the site. The move has prompted Airbnb to get the feds involved by suing the city to reverse its decision.

Airbnb says that the process is broken, and the city acknowledged as much. At issue is the complicated registration process, as the Airbnb site details:

These hosts have been asked to register with the City, but the ever-changing and confusing process simply doesn’t work for many residents, particularly senior citizens, people who occasionally share their space, work several jobs, and have limited time for repeated in-person application meetings.