Under the threat of huge penalties, Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and others have jettisoned hosts who ignored the city’s registration requirement for short-term rentals. That’s dramatically revamped the universe of listings, erasing more than half, tilting the market even more toward Airbnb, easing enforcement of local laws, and returning some rental units to a city that desperately needs them.
The Chronicle asked Host Compliance, a San Francisco company that helps cities monitor vacation rentals, to capture snapshots of Airbnb, HomeAway and FlipKey in late August, just before a legal agreement required Airbnb and HomeAway to start telling hosts to register or get kicked off. Host Compliance then extracted data from the three sites on Jan. 19, just after a deadline for all Airbnb and HomeAway hosts to register. (FlipKey did not have the same deadline but is subject to the same requirements.)
“The regulations had a massive impact on the number of rentals in the city, with an overall 55 percent reduction,” said Ulrik Binzer, Host Compliance CEO and founder.
Airbnb saw the smallest percentage loss. Both HomeAway and FlipKey showcase many second homes, which cannot qualify as vacation rentals here because the owners are not permanent residents. Neither of those two sites list private rooms or shared rooms, which remain staples on Airbnb.
Smaller, maybe better
A stricter enforcement system has transformed San Francisco’s market for short-term vacation rentals. Airbnb and HomeAway agreed to delist hosts who haven’t registered with the city over a five-month period starting in September. FlipKey jettisoned unregistered hosts too. These snapshots show the composition of the market before (Aug. 29) and after (Jan. 19) the purge of unregistered hosts.
“We see Jan. 16, 2018, as a hard reset,” said Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty. “We’re proud of the fact that as of then, every listing on our platform in San Francisco is in full compliance with the rules.”
Airbnb listings fell from 8,740 in August to 4,191 in January, data showed. That number includes a couple of hundred listings at hotels, hostels and time shares, which don’t have to register. Airbnb said in addition it has 2,480 listings exempt from registration because they rent for more than 30 days.
FlipKey, owned by TripAdvisor, said it worked closely with San Francisco to comply with its laws. Its listings plunged from 401 in August to 78 in January.
HomeAway, owned by Expedia, did not respond to requests for comment. It had 1,208 listings in August; 509 in January.
