"Find a place to stay," the website promises.
Type in "Sarasota," pick your dates and name
the number of people in your party. Up pops
a map, with pinpoints marking different prop-
erties on the left while on the right, the screen
i s p o p u l a t e d w i t h
photos of all types of
Sarasota properties.
No hotels, but there's
a d o w n t o w n p e n t -
house within "walking
distance from every-
thing you need," a
"honeymoon cottage" in the neighborhood
around the Ringling Museum, even a "river-
front cottage" far inland — all those among
many other destinations, priced all over the
map, from $59 a night to $600.
The site: Airbnb —
launched in 2008 and
billed as a "commu-
nity marketplace" for
travelers looking for
good deals and prop-
erty owners hoping to
A recent screenshot shows the Airbnb homepage. Image Courtesy airbnb.com
AIRBNB'S POPULARITY HAS EXPLODED, AND THE TAX COLLECTOR'S
OFFICE IS WATCHING CLOSELY
PAY UP
We want people to know we're
out there.
Liz Klaber
Chief Deputy Tax Collector
Sarasota County
By Cooper Levey-Baker
Associate Editor
