Agenda - 02-02-2016 -13-5 - Information Item - Memo Regarding 2015 State of Airbnb in North Carolina and Orange County

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4 appropriate licenses, without paying sales and occupancy taxes, and without following health and safety rules. Second, the short-term online rental marketplace does not consist primarily of small "Mom and Pop" operations. Several of the largest short-term online rental companies are valued in the billions of dollars, making them larger than several of the world's most notable hotel chains. This is big business and it should be recognized as such. It is critically important to distinguish between individuals who are in the business of renting rooms for profit and those simply renting rooms on a rare occasion or for a special event. If you are routinely renting out rooms, or encouraging renting out rooms for the purpose of making money, you are in the lodging business and you should be treated as a lodging business. Third, it is unwise to group all facets of the "sharing economy" together. Short-term online rental companies have clear differences from other businesses in this new space. Most notably, there is no process in place for becoming a short-term online host. With no process in place, there is no way to be certain who the hosts really are. Many hosts are well intentioned, but nefarious actors are likely to hide until it is too late. As many of the short-term online rental companies like to say, "Anyone can be a host" —and this is of great concern to the lodging industry. The lack of key consumer protections and proper oversight should be of equal concern to lawmakers and regulators alike. Fourth, there is a disturbing trend across the country. Many communities and policymakers have ignored concerns about the short-term online rental marketplace until it is too late. North Carolina policymakers and regulators have begun to study this issue and address the concerns and inequities between traditional lodging providers and short-term online rentals. The growth of the short-term online rental marketplaces presents an opportunity to ensure a fair, free market for lodging services across North Carolina and ensure all businesses that contribute to this state's economy are provided fair and equal opportunities to succeed. 2016 AIRBNB FOCUS (Extracted from Airbnb website/newsroom) • During November's annual Airbnb Open 2015 conference in Paris, there was a clear shift toward a greater emphasis on the Airbnb host community as the primary value proposition for the brand. • The sense of community surrounding Airbnb is becoming its greatest differentiator in the travel marketplace. Moving forward, the company is prioritizing its ecosystem of hosts above everything else to both further cement its relationship with those hosts and address the concerns of people who haven't tried room sharing. • Presently, the biggest cloud raining on Airbnb's parade is the regulatory hurdles constantly played out in the media. Chesky emphasized that everyone at Airbnb, including Airbnb hosts, want the room sharing industry to be fully regulated, because that will legitimize the industry as an industry. • "Many of us want to be regulated, because to be regulated is to be recognized," Chesky explained. "We don't think home sharing should be in the shadows.... I'm looking forward to maybe a future stage with Airbnb where we can look at the idea of hosting being legitimized in 34,000 cities around the world as a thing of the past."