In the tussle for influence in the country’s legislative chambers, Airbnb is putting its money to work, spending nearly half a million dollars this year to lobby on federal issues relating to tourism, housing and online sales.
The San Francisco–based start-up spent $480,000 on federal lobbying efforts in the first half of the year, according to an analysis by The Real Deal of disclosures filed with the House of Representatives. If the pace holds, the company’s full-year spending would be its highest in the past 10 years.
Airbnb’s most prolific year of federal lobbying was 2020, when it shelled out $690,000. Airbnb did not confirm the figures or provide any information on spending in July, August or September.
The House report does not include lobbying expenditures on the state and local level, where Airbnb is especially active because that is where most regulation of short-term rentals occurs. According to a recent report by SFGate, the start-up routinely deploys grassroots campaigns — through the mobilization of its hosts — to combat short-term rentals restrictions across California.
Aaron Peskin, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, described Airbnb as a “pioneer” in getting its hosts to push back against policies detrimental to short-term rentals.
This year, the company has intervened on several federal legislative proposals. In its second-quarter report, Airbnb disclosed $260,000 in expenses relating to “general discussions” on tourism, payment remittance and H.R. 8152, a data privacy bill that was introduced in June.
The company’s representatives, which lobbied federal agencies such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service, also pushed for policies relating to housing, taxes, immigration and disaster planning.
Airbnb recently hired Meaghan Lynch, a former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, as its public policy manager. It is also represented by Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, the lobbying firm for the Flex Association, a coalition of gig companies such as Uber, Instacart, DoorDash and Grubhub.
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As Airbnb makes investments on the policy front, its rivals have mostly retreated. Expedia Group, which owns short-term rental platform Vrbo, spent $280,000 on lobbying for the first half of the year. That was its lowest half-year total in the past 10 years.
Airbnb’s spending, however, is modest compared with that of its competitors in the hospitality industry. The American Hotel and Lodging Association, an industry trade group for hotels, spent $1.1 million on federal lobbying for the first half of the year. Marriott International spent $750,000.