Airbnb Data Firm Tells NYC Comptroller To 'Cease And Desist'

NEW YORK, NY — An Airbnb analytics firm says City Comptroller Scott Stringer violated its terms of service when he used its data in a report criticizing the vacation rental website. A lawyer for the firm, AirDNA, sent Stringer's office a "cease and desist" letter Monday echoing Airbnb's call for the comptroller to retract his report blaming Airbnb for an increase in New York City rents.

The letter, sent amid a bitter public spat between Airbnb and Stringer, says AirDNA could pursue further legal action against the comptroller.

"(T)he Comptroller has not only deprived AirDNA of revenue but also misconstrued the data and misrepresented AirDNA's analytics in a deeply flawed report," Ivo Entchev, an attorney representing the firm, wrote in the letter, which was made public Wednesday.

Stringer's report, published a week ago, found Airbnb was responsible for about 9 percent of the overall citywide increase in rent from 2009 to 2016. Both Airbnb and AirDNA have contested the report, calling it a concocted attack that misinterpreted data and didn't establish Airbnb's presence as a direct cause of rent hikes.

The two firms have questioned how the comptroller's office obtained the AirDNA data. Stringer's office has said it used figures that were publicly available on the website.

But AirDNA only provides analytics to "registered customers" and requires a special license to use the data as Stringer did, Etchev wrote. The letter calls for Stringer to issue an "immediate and public retraction" of his report.

"In short, the Comptroller’s report is nothing more than hotel propaganda released under the guise of economic research," AirDNA spokeswoman Abigail Long wrote in a statement Wednesday.

Stringer's office has defended the report and argued Airbnb is trying to deflect from its impact on the city's full-time tenants.

A spokeswoman for the comptroller stuck by the findings in response to AirDNA's letter.

"We stand by the integrity of our report, which is consistent with studies done in other jurisdictions that Airbnb has an impact on rent levels," Stringer spokeswoman Lena Bell said in a statement.

(Lead image: Photo by g0d4ather/Shutterstock)