November 9, 2017

Hon. Scott M. Stringer

Comptroller
City of New York
1 Centre Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10007

Re: Hotels, Home Sharing, and Economic Opportunity for Minority and Women
Business Enterprises (MWBE) in New York City

Comptroller Stringer,

We, the undersigned, are Airbnb hosts in New York who are concerned about your decision to
participate in a hotel industry-funded campaign attacking New Yorkers like us who share our
homes to make ends meet.

Many of us host in communities of color outside Manhattan, which have traditionally been
ignored by the hotel industry and left out of the tourism boom that has brought economic
opportunity to neighborhoods in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.i

Furthermore, many hosts have used this income to start or grow businesses of their own--
including Just Because Salon and Acoustik Lounge, two minority and women-owned businesses
(MWBE) in Brooklyn.ii More broadly, Airbnb guests are projected to spend an astonishing $537
million at NYC restaurants in 2017, many of which are outside traditional tourist districts.iii

It is ironic, then, that the day you signed on to a hotel-industry backed letter that would hurt
these communities and these entrepreneurs, you issued a Tweet stating, We have to invest in
MWBEs and we have to deliver real, local wealth creation.iv

Its easy to say the right things, Mr. Stringer. It is harder to walk the walk when a major
campaign contributor like the hotel lobby comes calling for a favor.

The truth is that you dont invest in MWBEs by cutting off a key source of startup capital and
you dont deliver real, local wealth creation by siding with multi-billion dollar hotel companies
against home sharing hosts who plow 97 percent of the list price of their space back into the
local economy.

Instead of attacking constituents like us, you should be examining how hotel companies
including several that are in the portfolios of funds you manage on behalf of public servants
are bankrolling secret spying by third-party investigators that violates the privacy rights of
everyday New Yorkers.
As reported by Bloomberg, Share Better, a front group funded by hotel industry dollars, has
launched a guerilla campaign against Airbnb hosts, spending over $1 million to hire private
investigators who carry out-of-state IDs...set up fake social media profiles to allay suspicion,
bring hidden cameras and...relay their dossiers to the Mayors Office of Special Enforcement.v

Share Better funding comes largely from the Hotel Industry of New York City (HANY), an
industry group that includes publicly traded companies such as Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, La
Quinta, Marriott, and Wyndham.vi

The New York City pension systemmade up of five independent pension fundsdoes not list
individual stock ownership. However, given that the New York State pension system owned
approximately $170 million of stock in these six companies alone (as of March 31, 2016) and
that the funds you manage have billions of dollars invested in index funds covering the S&P 500,
Russell 3000, and other similar funds, there is undoubtedly exposure for City pensions as well.vii

You have invested considerable time and attention to issues related to corporate governance,
believing that institutional investors have a fiduciary duty to ensure that the companies they
invest in act in the best long term interests of shareowners.

So we ask you this: how does investing corporate money in a shell organization that participates
in secret spying on New Yorkers in their own homes in the best long-term interests of the hard-
working women and men whose pensions you are sworn to protect?

There is no excuse for the hotel industrys attacks on our families and our privacy and no excuse
for you to say one thing about economic development in New Yorks communities and do
another.

We are middle class New Yorkers who share our own homes to make ends meet in a City where
the rent and cost of living continues to climb.

We hope you agree and will take appropriate action.

Sincerely,

Richelle & Pela Burnett, Brooklyn Airbnb Hosts

Linda Sutton, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Dani Herard, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Michelle Yates, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Chrie Malone, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Lisa Heller, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Katherine Miao, Queens Airbnb Host
Heather-Sky McField, Brooklyn Airbnb Host and Owner of Acoustik Lounge BK
Shelley Worrell, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Joyce Robinson, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Ada Garbutt, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Jewel Dobson, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Lorenza Collins, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Terry John, Brooklyn Airbnb Host
Noelva Vigoya, City Island Airbnb Host
Chandra Sanford, Bronx Airbnb Host
Yahaira Vargas, Bronx Airbnb Host
Alba Mota, Bronx Airbnb Host
Long Lee, Bronx Airbnb Host
Olu Rowland, Bronx Airbnb Host
Eric Smith, Bronx Airbnb Host
Julio Pabon, Bronx Airbnb Host
Lee Thomas, Queens Airbnb Host
Israel Bautista, Queens Airbnb Host
Adolfo Sanchez, Queens Airbnb Host
Natasha Balgobin, Bronx Airbnb Host
Jacqueline Amedee, Bronx Airbnb Host
Fabiola Sanders, Bronx Airbnb Host
Julie Wang, Queens Airbnb Host
Henry Wu, Queens Airbnb Host
Silvia Trajido, Queens Airbnb Host

i
https://new-york-city.airbnbcitizen.com/creating-economic-opportunity-in-new-yorks-predominantly-black-
neighborhoods/;https://new-york-city.airbnbcitizen.com/how-airbnb-is-creating-economic-opportunity-in-nycs-
predominantly-hispanic-communities/; In 2016, 6,560 Airbnb hosts in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods
welcomed nearly 270,000 travelers to their communities, generating over $58.5 million for host families and millions
more for local small businesses. Similarly, In 2015, Airbnb pumped more than $43 million dollars into the pockets of
hosts in in predominantly African-American communities in New York City.
ii
http://myrtleavenue.org/womens-history-month-spotlight-on-just-because-salon-owner-carol-thomas/.
iii
https://www.airbnbcitizen.com/2017restaurantreport/.
iv
https://twitter.com/NYCComptroller/status/927220815447445504.
v
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-12/hotel-money-is-funding-anti-airbnb-sting-operations.
vi
https://www.hanyc.org/members/hotels/.
vii
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/retire/word_and_pdf_documents/publications/cafr/asset_listings_16.pdf; $170
million includes over $50 million in Starwood Hotels, which is now part of Marriott.