Hotel group, Airbnb stoke lobby rumble

ALBANY — The battle between Airbnb and its critics is escalating.

The online home-sharing site on Monday will file a complaint with a state ethics panel charging that a coalition of unions, lawmakers and other Airbnb opponents has engaged in illegal and unreported lobbying.

The ShareBetter coalition, which is largely funded by the city hotel industry and its worker union, is set to fire back with its own ethics complaints against the company.

The complaint by Airbnb, prepared by David Grandeau, the former head of the old state lobbying commission and obtained by the Daily News, calls on the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics or the state attorney general’s office to investigate ShareBetter’s activities.

It alleges that ShareBetter failed to register as a lobbyist, disclose its source of funding, report lobbying expenses, or file bimonthly and semiannual lobbying reports.

“Respondents are attempting to manipulate legislative outcomes in a way that benefits an undisclosed group of benefactors at the expense of residents of New York State. The public has a right to know who is funding these actions,” the complaint says.

A source close to ShareBetter said the three entities that provide the bulk of the funding, including the city hotel association and the hotel and motel workers union, registered as lobbyists and disclosed their activities.

Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan, a member of ShareBetter who has pushed anti-Airbnb legislation, said, “We’re confident that all of ShareBetter’s reporting requirements have been handled properly.”