Airbnb has its own $404,000 ‘lobby’

ALBANY — Airbnb dug deep into its wallet this year to try to influence New York lawmakers.

The popular home-sharing site spent more than $404,200 on lobbying during the first six months of the year, including $345,593 paid directly to some of Albany’s most influential lobbyists, according to a financial disclosure statement recently filed with the state.

“They’ve hired just about every lobbyist in Albany,” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), a staunch Airbnb critic. “It shows that they are worried and it also shows that they have limitless amounts of money to throw around.”

Airbnb’s roster of lobbyists included the influential firms Patricia Lynch Associates, Hinman Straub, and Bolton St. Johns, the firm that includes Giorgio DeRosa, the father of Gov. Cuomo’s chief of staff Melissa DeRosa, as one of its partners.

The company’s spending for the period — which covered the state Legislature’s entire session — was more than the $349,722 it spent during the same time frame a year ago, and ranked it among the top spenders at the Capitol.

By comparison, New York State United Teachers, traditionally one of Albany’s most influential players, doled out $566,587 on lobbying in the first half of 2017. The city teachers union, another key player in Albany, spent more than $419,000, according to records filed with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

An Airbnb official defended the company’s spending.

“While the hotel industry and its allies use a shadowy front group to attack hardworking New Yorkers and hide its undisclosed lobbying activities, we have been open and transparent about defending the tens of thousands of hosts across New York who are trying to earn a little extra income so they can stay in the neighborhoods they love,” said Josh Meltzer, Airbnb’s New York policy head.

Airbnb has met stiff resistance from the hotel industry and a host of Democratic lawmakers who complain that the company is flouting laws banning short-term rentals and reducing the city’s stock of affordable housing units. Critics of the company have banded together to form the Share Better coalition.

Airbnb has filed a complaint with the ethics commission arguing that Share Better is a lobbying organization and should disclose its spending.

Share Better supporters say it is simply a public education campaign, not a lobbying organization. The major players behind it, including the Hotel and Motel Trades Council, have already registered as lobbyists, they added.

The Hotel and Motel Trades Council reported spending $127,855 on lobbying during the first half of the year. The Hotel Association of New York City, another major backer of Share Better, spent at least $50,000, according to ethics disclosures.

Airbnb’s spending, meanwhile, has generated limited results. State lawmakers last year passed legislation that Airbnb fiercely opposed banning the advertisement of short term rentals. This year, an Airbnb-supported bill legalizing short-term rentals failed to advance.

“All their efforts have been ineffective,” Rosenthal said.