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keep their places full. It's also a big piece of the burgeoning market many have called the "share economy." According to Forbes, in 2009 Airbnb helped 100,000 guests book rooms; in 2010, that number grew to 750,000. Its website now boasts that it has helped more than 9 mil- lion travelers find a bed. What makes Airbnb more attractive than, say, Craigslist? For one, you can see the face of the person renting your temporary abode. The site offers photos and other info about the owner, and it allows direct communication. Hosts are also able to see potential renters' profiles and message with them before their stays. But the site has also generated controversy. The Savannah Morning News reported just this week that the city has sent cease- and-desist letters to hosts, accusing them of operating commercial businesses in neighbor- hoods zoned as residential. In New York City, meanwhile, lawmakers have charged hosts with violating rules that prohibit residents from "letting their apartments for fewer than thirty days if they are not present," according to The New Yorker. As reported by the city's Chronicle, another major complaint in San Francisco, Airbnb's hometown, has been that hosts are not pay- ing hotel occupancy taxes. That last charge may apply to Sarasota, too. Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford-Coates collects a 5 percent Tourist Development Tax levied on revenue from rentals shorter than six months, and no, rent- als booked through sites like Airbnb are not exempt. "I've got a staff member who's working the site," confirms Chief Deputy Tax Collector Liz Klaber. Her office has a full-time employee responsible for surfing websites — in addi- tion to Airbnb, there are older sites offering vacation rentals, including Flipkey and VRBO. The office also hires an additional employee to cover the high-traffic months of season. Klaber credits Airbnb for including word- ing on its site encouraging hosts to pay any applicable local taxes. The Tax Collector's Office can't share specific information about violators its staff has identified online, but Klaber says monitoring the media to make sure taxes are being paid is a longtime strat- egy. Employees used to scour newspapers' classified sections for rental ads. Now that business has mostly gone online. "It's nothing new," Klaber emphasizes. The major difference between Airbnb and its predecessors is that many of the properties being rented out are not investment homes or vacation condos. They're spare bedrooms, detached cottages, sometimes even just an unoccupied bedroom. But regardless of what the place looks like, whether it's fancy or not, Klaber has one message for hosts: "We want people to know we're out there." % Press Releases & News Tips News@SarasotaNewsLeader.com Sarasota News Leader February 7, 2014 Page 55