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Comment by andrenotgiant | Hacker News Reader

This is very nicely done, and the numbers show AirBNB has grown to be a powerful force in the travel industry.

Given this growth, I hope they are working on an official response or plan to address the problems they are having in New York City seen here:

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning-for-a...

2. http://gothamist.com/2013/02/05/east_village_man_fights_30k_...

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Sometimes I wonder about these issues, and as the commenter below points out, the silence on these issues is deafening. I'm reminded of when YouTube launched, and they allows copyrighted content to a point [0], this helped drive page views. I'm not saying this is what airbnb is doing, I guess I'm wondering if this is a overall strategy for start-ups. This is one of the key elements that allows them to grow quickly.

I guess talk is cheap, journalists can write something, but when someone sues, then you have to pay attention. Why would you direct your energy to journalists with out an agenda. Just to get pulled into the discussion and side track you from growing the company. Looks like the EU is really taking off for them anyways, maybe NY and CA are not hot topics around the company?

[0] http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/03/21/youtube-founders-knew...

I somehow cannot convince myself that Airbnb not a niche. I do see it as a useful thing under some circumstances like SXSW or the Obama inauguration.

I have the opposite feeling - 5 years from now hotels will be a niche to be used only for exceptional circumstances.

The silence on these issues is deafening. Neither AirBnB nor their fans have appear to have any intention of voluntarily stepping up and saying something about this. It might spoil the party, after all.

AirBnB's supposed multi-billion valuation is built by completely flaunting the law in its biggest markets. For all the talk of "community" in this annual report, there is no mention of the potential long-term social or economic impact of enabling lawbreaking on such a scale. The fact that none of the reporter's questions in the NYTimes article were addressed in any meaningful way is indicative of AirBnB's overall "whatever we can get away with" attitude.

Oh, and here is another topic I'm sure AirBnB is not eager to talk about:

http://google.com/search?q=airbnb+rent+control+san+francisco

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