Airbnb

A 35-year-old woman living at Pacific Mansion condominium tried to bribe two security guards at the River Valley development into keeping quiet about her Airbnb guests. Li Yilin was sentenced on Thursday (Nov 28) to one week's jail for corruption. Li, a tenant at the condominium, had sublet her rental apartment to a group of tourists for five days and four nights via Airbnb, the Corrupt Practices...

There will be no change to current rules for short-term stays in private homes, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced on Wednesday. That means that the use of private properties for fewer than three consecutive months - which has been popularised by the likes of home-sharing platforms Airbnb around the world - will remain illegal in Singapore. This came after several consultations...

Airbnb and other short-term letting websites have been a hot topic of debate for some time. In Australia, New South Wales is on the verge of announcing a new short-term letting policy. Our research suggests about a quarter of Airbnb properties in the city are essentially commercial short-term letting operations. But as cities like Berlin and Barcelona have learned, regulating these platforms is...

Home and room-renting site Airbnb said it is "committed to working with the Government to adopt a model of home-sharing that works for Singapore" even as laws prohibit private property owners from renting out their homes for less than six months. On Monday (Feb 6), National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament that the Government is considering creating a new class of homes where...

AccorHotels said on Wednesday it had entered exclusive talks to buy concierge service provider John Paul, as it pushes further into new hospitality services and beefs up its response to the challenges of Airbnb. Under the terms of the deal, AccorHotels - the world's fifth-largest hotel group - will acquire 80 percent of John Paul for about US$150 million in equity and debt, with the company's chief...

There is "no stopping an idea whose time has come", said Mr Mike Curtis, vice president of engineering at room-sharing service provider Airbnb, paraphrasing a quote by Romantic author Victor Hugo. Commenting on the slew of regulatory roadblocks the company is currently facing across different markets, including Singapore, Mr Curtis told Channel NewsAsia in an interview on Thursday (May 26) that the...