Hotel and hospitality insiders speculate that the industry will continue to face challenges related to disruptive online platforms, data breaches, hotel management agreements, sexual harassment and crisis management in 2018.

Speaking with Law360, Todd E. Soloway, Chair or Pryor Cashman’s Hotel + Hospitality and Real Estate Litigation practices, predicted that Airbnb and other home-sharing platforms can expect a particularly litigious year ahead.

Soloway said he wouldn’t be surprised to see hotels join in a suit against Airbnb, particularly in New York, where commercial operators run many Airbnb apartments like illegal hotels. “Airbnb is truly undermining the city’s hotel industry,” he told Law360. “The question is whether the industry’s owners and managers will get together and call out Airbnb on operating illegally."

In November 2016, New York State and Airbnb agreed to end their fight over a law that bans advertising of short-term rentals on sharing economy websites, just a month after the company filed suit and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law. In a voluntary dismissal, Airbnb agreed to give up its challenge to the bill, provided New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is prohibited from taking any action regarding the provision in New York City. The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement will now handle compliance and enforcement of the law, the court filing said.

Elsewhere in the United States, Airbnb is battling states, counties, cities and even individual buildings that seek to better regulate and manage — or do away with entirely — the site’s growing foothold in their communities.

To read the full Law360 article, please click here.

More About Soloway’s Practice

Todd Soloway leads Pryor Cashman’s Hotel + Hospitality and Real Estate Litigation Groups. He has been named a leading real estate attorney by Best Lawyers in America and is a frequent contributor to industry publications on topics ranging from hotel management agreements to hospitality mergers.

Soloway also counsels foreign real estate developers and owners in cross-border transactions as well as institutional, private and mezzanine lenders. To learn more about his work, please visit here.