Airbnb, Vrbo and the business of short-term rentals, reported daily

The record

2020 to 2023, month by month

Stay Gazette opened in July 2026. The record is the desk's look back at the years that set up the business it now covers every day: 96 stories across 48 months, each written from sources published in the month it covers and each marked with the day the desk filed it.

2023

January 2023Philadelphia's License Rules for Short-Term Rentals Take Effect After Two DelaysVacasa Cuts About 1,300 Jobs in Its Second Round of Layoffs in Three Months2 stories · 5 briefs → February 2023Airbnb Posts Its First Full-Year Profit and Signals Lower Nightly RatesPortugal Proposes a Ban on New Short-Term Rental Licenses2 stories · 6 briefs → March 2023New Orleans Limits Short-Term Rentals to One Per Square BlockAirbnb Removes Quebec Listings Without Permits After Old Montreal Fire2 stories · 6 briefs → April 2023England Proposes Planning Permission and a Register for Short-Term LetsFlorida Senate Passes a Vacation Rental Bill That Caps Local Registration Fees2 stories · 6 briefs → May 2023Airbnb Relaunches Private Rooms and Lets Guests See the Total PriceAirbnb Posts Its First Profitable First Quarter and Expects Average Rate to Dip2 stories · 6 briefs → June 2023Airbnb Sues New York City Over Short-Term Rental Registration RulesDallas Votes to Bar Short-Term Rentals From Single-Family Neighborhoods2 stories · 6 briefs → July 2023Data Firms Answer the Airbnb Collapse Tweet With Far Smaller DeclinesExpedia Launches One Key and Gives Vrbo Its First Loyalty Program2 stories · 6 briefs → August 2023Airbnb Posts Its Most Profitable Second Quarter as Hosts Cut PricesHawaii Turns to Vacation Rentals and Hotels to House Maui Fire Survivors2 stories · 6 briefs → September 2023Airbnb Is Named to the S&P 500 IndexNew York City Starts Enforcing Its Short-Term Rental Registration Law2 stories · 6 briefs → October 2023FTC Proposes Junk Fee Rule Covering Airbnb and Vrbo ListingsBritish Columbia Passes Law Limiting Short-Term Rentals to Principal Residences2 stories · 6 briefs → November 2023Milan Judge Orders Seizure of 779 Million Euros From Airbnb IrelandAirbnb Introduces Guest Favorites Badge for Two Million Homes2 stories · 6 briefs → December 2023Dallas Judge Blocks Enforcement of the City's Short-Term Rental OrdinancesAustralian Court Orders Airbnb to Pay A$15 Million Over US Dollar Prices2 stories · 5 briefs →

2022

January 2022Airbnb Says Hosts Will See Only the Initials of Oregon Guests Before BookingScotland Votes to License Every Short-Term Let2 stories · 6 briefs → February 2022Airbnb Posts a Record Fourth Quarter and Says Hosts Earned $34 Billion in 2021Airbnb.org Offers Free Housing for Up to 100,000 Refugees Fleeing Ukraine2 stories · 5 briefs → March 2022Atlanta Starts Requiring a License for Short-Term RentalsAirbnb Waives Its Fees in Ukraine as Guests Book Stays They Will Not Use2 stories · 6 briefs → April 2022Honolulu Sets a 90-Day Minimum for Rentals Outside Resort ZonesAirbnb Ends Covid-19 Refunds Under Its Extenuating Circumstances Policy2 stories · 6 briefs → May 2022Airbnb Rebuilds Its Search Around Categories and Adds a Guest GuaranteeAirbnb Decides to Close Its Domestic Business in Mainland China2 stories · 6 briefs → June 2022Sonder Cuts 21 Percent of Corporate Roles in a Push for Positive Cash FlowAirbnb Makes Its Party Ban Permanent and Plans to Lift the 16-Person Cap2 stories · 6 briefs → July 2022Arizona Lets Cities License Short-Term Rentals Under a Three-Strike LawAirDNA Reports Falling Occupancy as US Rental Listings Reach 1.37 Million2 stories · 6 briefs → August 2022Airbnb Starts Screening Bookings for Party Risk in the US and CanadaFifth Circuit Rules Against New Orleans Residency Rule for Short-Term Rentals2 stories · 5 briefs → September 2022Edinburgh Becomes Scotland's First Short-Term Let Control AreaHurricane Ian Hits Southwest Florida and Leaves Rental Refunds to Hosts2 stories · 5 briefs → October 2022Federal Judge Blocks Honolulu’s 90-Day Minimum Rental RuleAirbnbust Tweet Sets Off a Fight Over Falling Host Bookings2 stories · 6 briefs → November 2022Airbnb Says It Will Show Total Prices and Curb Checkout ChoresEuropean Commission Proposes EU Rules on Short-Term Rental Data2 stories · 6 briefs → December 2022AirDNA Forecasts Its First Drop in Revenue per Rental for 2023EU Court Backs Italy's 21% Tax Withholding on Short-Term Rentals2 stories · 6 briefs →

2021

January 2021Expedia Blames Toronto's Short-Term Rental Rules for Vrbo's ExitAirbnb to Cancel and Block Washington Area Bookings for Inauguration Week2 stories · 6 briefs → February 2021England's Roadmap Sets 12 April as the Earliest Date for Holiday Lets to ReopenAirbnb's First Results as a Public Company Show a $4.6 Billion Net Loss for 20202 stories · 6 briefs → March 2021Amsterdam Court Annuls the Holiday Rental Ban in Three Central DistrictsVrbo Launches Fast Start to Bring Established Hosts From Other Sites2 stories · 6 briefs → April 2021Guesty Raises $50 Million and Buys Your Porter Weeks After Buying MyVRSonder Agrees to Go Public Through a Merger With Gores Metropoulos II2 stories · 6 briefs → May 2021Court of Appeal Rules Santa Barbara Could Not Ban Coastal Rentals on Its OwnAirbnb Cuts Host Sign-Up to 10 Steps and Announces Two Flexible Searches2 stories · 6 briefs → June 2021Airbnb Asks the UK Government for a National Register of Short-Term LetsNevada Orders Clark County and Three Cities to License Short-Term Rentals2 stories · 6 briefs → July 2021Paris Court Orders Airbnb to Pay 8.08 Million Euros Over 1,010 ListingsVacasa Agrees to Go Public Through a Merger With TPG Pace Solutions2 stories · 6 briefs → August 2021Barcelona Keeps Tourist Room Ban as Catalonia's Shared-Home Rules Take EffectAirbnb Pledges Temporary Stays for 20,000 Afghan Refugees and Asks Hosts to Help2 stories · 6 briefs → September 2021Edinburgh Consults on Making the Whole City a Short-Term Let Control AreaHomeToGo Begins Trading in Frankfurt After Its Merger With Lakestar SPAC I2 stories · 6 briefs → October 2021Airbnb Listings in Amsterdam Fall From 16,648 to 2,924 After Registration DeadlineMichigan House Votes 55-48 to Stop Local Bans on Short-Term Rentals2 stories · 6 briefs → November 2021Airbnb Launches AirCover With $1 Million in Damage Protection for HostsScotland Puts Its Short-Term Let Licensing Order Back Before Parliament2 stories · 6 briefs → December 2021Vacasa Starts Trading on Nasdaq and Falls 10.4 Percent on Its First DayNew York City Council Passes a Short-Term Rental Registration Bill2 stories · 6 briefs →

2020

January 2020Airbnb Pulls 28 Hollywood Hills Listings and Ties Staff Bonuses to SafetyScotland Says Every Short-Term Let Will Need a License2 stories · 6 briefs → February 2020Airbnb Bars Canadians Under 25 From Booking Entire Homes Near Where They LiveAirbnb Suspends All Beijing Bookings as Coronavirus Reaches the Rental Trade2 stories · 6 briefs → March 2020Airbnb Overrides Host Cancellation Policies and Refunds Covid Bookings in FullFlorida Suspends Vacation Rentals for 14 Days and Leaves Hotels Open2 stories · 6 briefs → April 2020Airbnb Raises $2 Billion in Two Deals as the Pandemic Freezes TravelAirbnb Announces an Optional Cleaning Protocol and a 72-Hour Booking Buffer2 stories · 6 briefs → May 2020Airbnb Lays Off Nearly 1,900 Employees and Narrows Its Focus to HostsFlorida Lets Vacation Rentals Reopen One County at a Time2 stories · 6 briefs → June 2020Airbnb Agrees to Drop Its Lawsuit and Give New York City Host DataAmsterdam Bans Holiday Rentals in Three Central Districts2 stories · 6 briefs → July 2020Lisbon's Safe Rent Program Draws 45 Short-Term Rentals in Its First CallAirbnb Guests Book One Million Nights in a Day for the First Time Since March2 stories · 6 briefs → August 2020Airbnb Confidentially Submits Draft IPO Papers to the SECAirbnb Bans All Parties Worldwide and Caps Homes at 16 Guests2 stories · 6 briefs → September 2020Toronto Opens Its Short-Term Rental Registry and Sets a Year-End DeadlineEU Top Court Backs France's Authorization Rule for Short-Term Rentals2 stories · 6 briefs → October 2020Wales Shuts Every Accommodation Business as Lockdowns Return Across EuropeAirbnb Sets Aside 9.2 Million Shares for a Host Endowment2 stories · 6 briefs → November 2020Portland, Maine Voters Reject a Ban on Unhosted Short-Term RentalsAirbnb Files for Its IPO and Sets Aside Shares for Hosts2 stories · 6 briefs → December 2020Airbnb Blocks One-Night New Year's Eve Stays for Guests Without Positive ReviewsAirbnb Goes Public at $68 a Share and Closes Its First Day at $144.712 stories · 5 briefs →

How the record is written

A record story is not news and is never shown as though it ran at the time. Each one names the month it covers and the day the desk filed it. The reporting is told from the sources of its month, in the past tense, and those sources are listed under the story with their dates. The desk's opinion sits in a box marked as a verdict looking back, with the strongest other side beside it. The same standards apply as to the daily paper: a specific that cannot be traced to a source does not run.

The photographs in the record come from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons 4.0 licences. Each is credited beside the picture with its author and licence, and the caption says what the photograph shows and when it was taken.