David Hantman, the chief lobbyist for home-rental business Airbnb Inc., on Monday cautioned government regulators against imposing new rules on members of the so-called sharing economy without conclusive data that justifies the regulations.
Speaking at a discussion on Capitol Hill about the regulation of such businesses as ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb, Hantman said government officials shouldn’t formulate policy based solely on select incidents. For example, he noted that only about three complaints about Airbnb guests were filed with New York City, despite hosting 700,000 vacationers in 2014 who used the platform to rent apartments in lieu of hotel rooms. He said the incidents involved noise and “those people got kicked off” of Airbnb.
