Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Francisco,Sacramento etc. have detailed Airbnb regulations. No need to reinvent the wheel. Also Airbnb collects the TOT directly for the cities participating and pays the cities directly. Not participating in this money making program makes no sense.

What business is it of the gov't who I choose to let live in my son's room - while he is not occupying it?!
The City of MV does not need to involve itself in yet another way for government to regulate me and cut into my meager source of additional income.
All we hear about is how there's a housing crisis in MV.
Build more apartments. Build more homes. Gentrification.
Let homeless people live in water-district owned houses in Waverly park.
Let people live in trailers parked on the streets of MV.
Encourage home owners to build "companion units"
Airbnb is helping to mitigate the housing shortage and making it possible for many current residents to afford to stay in their homes.
Just leave it alone!

If the City is not going to enforce City ordinances than why have such ordinances? The excuse given here that City officials are just too busy does not fly. There are plenty of people running businesses out of their homes in Mountain View in residential zoned areas and the City still requires a business license. The City should require the same from AirBnb rentals along with TOTs. If not, it's just money left on the table, a double standard, selective enforcement of the law and just plain hypocrisy coming from the City.

Mr. Haedtler has got it right in that City Ordinances are pretty clear regarding when TOTs apply. Any one not paying TOT is just playing it naive to make a few bucks. If such people are responsible enough to provide lodging for strangers, one would think they are responsible enough to pay for a business license and taxes.

Mr. Blount's hesitancy to take on the job--a basic duty of the City-because his department is too busy leaves me speechless. Maybe the City should just slow down on all the other projects moving full steam ahead until they sort this mess out. Applying one set of rules to one set of people and no rules to another just doesn't fly.

For a case at point, here in the Crossings of Mountain View homeowners association, several homeowners rent out their entire homes even though short-term rentals are explicitly not allowed in our CC&Rs. We send letters to our HOA Board which is responsible to enforce the CC&Rs and they do nothing to enforce them even when we point out that our common property, building and liability insurance does not cover AirBnb short-term rentals. That's one reason why AirBnbs are against the rules. Insurance for transient lodging in a homeowners association, which is a CID corporation, is much more expensive than insurance for domestic residences. AirBnbs basically push the CID into a hotel like category requiring hotel insurance. In addition AIrBnb insurance coverage tops out at $1,000,000 which will not cover the cost of replacing even one of our buildings with 4 to 6 rowhouses listing for $1,500,000 each should a fire occur and destroy the building. As long as AirBnbs currently exist in some of our units, false declarations exist in our insurance policy which means we are not covered for claims from AirBnb rentals (Ironically, Mr. Noack has previously written biased and non-factual articles against our HOA for attempting to enforce its rules in the past without taking the time to thoroughly conduct due diligence in his investigative reporting; it's just hilarious to see him reporting on this now after shaming our previous board from actually doing its job.)

Also noteworthy is that many of the people renting out AirBnb homes here in the Crossings, to include many foreigner tourist perhaps not familiar with our laws, park illegally in the fire lanes and in front of fire hydrants. When you call the Mountain View police to report them, you are lucky if a patrol car ever shows up. Such violation are just too low a priority for our crime fighters according to Mountain View police officials a group of homeowners have spoken to. So... when that AirBnb renter accidentally starts a fire... the fire department might have a hell of time reaching the fire with blocked fire lanes and cars parking in front of fire hydrants.

Also, what about fire safety and fire codes? Why isn't the Mountain View fire department involved in making sure these short-term rentals are in compliance with all the rules that hotels are supposed to be in compliance with? Not only does the Crossings board refuse to enforce our CC&Rs against AirBnb short-term rentals, the Crossings board also makes no effort to address the fire safety issues of such AirBnb rentals and illegal parking in the fire lanes (and again, thanks to Mr. Noack's biased and factually incorrect previous reporting in 2015 on attempts to enforcing the rules in the Crossings, most homeowners are completely clueless as to the true financial risk and exposure to liability tha AirBnb rentals present in the Crossings in the first place!)

Even more ironic is that the Crossings Board president is the Deputy Chief of the Palo Alto Fire Department. Even though two compliance orders have been issued by the Mountain View fire marshal for violations of the fire code in the Crossings, there has been a great reluctance on the part of the city to follow through with them. Why? What's the connection or dynamic there> Compliance dates of 6 May 2016 and 6 October 2016 have long passed and the fire marshal and City refuses to take any administrative or legal action against one of their own. Again, rules for some but not for others. Welcome to Mountain View.

@Anthony, great points that shed light on many of the lesser known problems that AirBnb brings. It's like getting new neighbors every week, destroys the community, and deprives the city of housing stock. A particular peeve for us is the people, sometimes large families, arriving at all hours as if they just got to Disneyland. Parking becomes more difficult and they are constantly coming to our door asking for favors and items. Yeah, I get the marketing push by Airbnb that there is nothing like living there amongst the natives, but I'm not the one getting compensated for the headaches.

As far as your HOA Board not doing its job and enforcing your governing documents, maybe it's time for a recall vote?

This sounds more like a Crossings problem than a pervasive issue in MV.

It is also more of an issue for people who rent out whole houses or run their home like a business. That is an entirely different issue than people just renting out a room in their house.

Let's try not to look at everything as an opportunity to grab up more money for the government to take away from hard working, enterprising hosts. For some people this is the only way they can afford to continue to live in this area or make ends meet.

Let's not stereotype all Airbnb people with such biased and prejudiced statements. (Most in this area are Stanford nurses/gradstudents, interns & business travelers.)

Let's not create a problem where none exists.

AirBnbs also expose our homeowners association to lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act in that our homes are not compliant as commercial establishments. This is indeed a complex issue that the city must perform its due diligence on.