Airbnb to give New York host information

[NEW YORK] Airbnb Inc, the short-term home rental service for travellers, agreed to comply with a New York state probe of it and hosts who may be violating state occupancy and tax regulations.

The San Francisco-based company, which charges a transaction fee to list a couch, bedroom or house available for short-term rental, will hand over information about its New York hosts on an anonymous basis, according to the accord. It agreed to furnish identifying details later for people deemed to be subjects of the probe.

The agreement will allow attorney general Eric Schneiderman's office to move forward with an investigation of what he describes as illegal hotels, accommodations that violate a state law generally prohibiting spot rentals of entire homes.