Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorOctober 9, 2017

On behalf of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), I am honored to go before the Senate Community Affairs Committee tomorrow to discuss short-term rentals — an important topic of concern in recent years given the emergence of online rental platforms. While these platforms provide people with a new method to access and advertise short-term rentals, there have also been many unintended side effects. Alarmingly, these platforms are being exploited by commercial operators who run illegal hotels without […]

Scott PowersSeptember 29, 2017

Airbnb, the nation’s largest vacation rental home marketing business, announced Friday it is extending its Disaster Response Program two more weeks in Florida to help with displaced evacuees and relief workers from Hurricane Irma and evacuees from Hurricane Maria. The company and a few of its host properties have agreed to offer rent-free stays for […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 20, 2017

A week after Hurricane Irma ravaged the Sunshine State, the long road to recovery is beginning in both South Florida — hardest hit by the storm — and in Tallahassee. Companies that deal in disaster relief and cleanup have begun lobbying up in advance of the 2018 Legislative Session, registration records show: — AshBritt Environmental, a […]

Scott PowersSeptember 14, 2017

Airbnb, the nation’s largest vacation rental home marketing business, said Thursday it has 230 host homes mostly in northern Florida offering free stays to Hurricane Irma evacuees and relief workers and now is activating its disaster relief program through more of Florida. Airbnb also is seeking new hosts in Central Florida, South Florida, North Florida, […]

Scott PowersSeptember 10, 2017

Airbnb, the vacation rental home marketing company, announced it has expanded a disaster response program to provide free housing to Hurricane Irma evacuees and relief workers. The company is asking its vacation rental hosts to participate, including those in parts of Alabama and North Carolina, northwest and southeast South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia to help […]

Associated PressJuly 27, 2017

For decades, a well-funded conservative group has helped state lawmakers across the U.S. write legislation to rein in unions, expand charter schools and lower taxes. Now, it’s expanding to the final frontier: normally nonpartisan city halls and county governments, which have become a bastion of liberal resistance to President Donald Trump. The American Legislative Exchange […]

Scott PowersJuly 23, 2017

Florida International University has been dropped from a controversial research contract proposed by the American Hotel & Lodging Association that had been criticized as potentially unethical by the national watchdog group Checks & Balances Project. A spokeswoman for the university advised FloridaPolitics.com that it has been notified that it is not receiving the AH&LA $68,209 […]

Scott PowersJuly 20, 2017

A watchdog group called the Checks & Balances Project is charging that the leading hotel industry association may be paying Florida International University to produce research for the industry’s lobbying against Airbnb and other home-sharing marketing companies. “The hotel industry’s hotel industry’s lobbying arm, the American Hotel & Lobbying Association, has an aggressive pay-to-play academic […]

Scott PowersJune 27, 2017

Vacation home-rental marketing giant Airbnb said Tuesday its expanding list of tax agreements and its growing business should lead it to equal last year’s total sales and tourist tax payments just in the first six months of 2017. The company announced that its five-month totals in sales and tourist taxes paid to the state and […]

Scott PowersJune 8, 2017

Lodging alternative marketing service Airbnb released figures Thursday that shows families and friends of college graduates piled into vacation rental homes from Pensacola to Miami Guests booking rooms in Airbnb-marketed vacation rental homes more than doubled in Gainesville and Tallahassee during the University of Florida and Florida A&M University commencement weeks in April. Tallahassee also […]

Tag: Airbnb
Sleek F1 machine poised for Miami Grand Prix amid star-studded parties and high-speed action.

Troy Flanagan: Florida lawmakers must protect tourism by addressing illegal rentals

Airbnb extends disaster response for Hurricanes Irma, Maria

Lobby Up: Disaster relief concerns get ready for Session

Airbnb expands call for hosts to house evacuees, relief workers

Airbnb expands Irma response to Alabama, NC, SC

U.S. conservatism expands to final frontier: City hall

FIU out of anti-Airbnb, hotel association research project

Watchdog group claims hotel industry, FIU, teaming for anti-Airbnb research

Airbnb says county agreements should lead it to equal 2016 tax payments in first six months

College graduates’ families, friends pump up Airbnb bookings