Having just reserved a hotel for my inlaws and having worked in hospitality for the better part of a decade, I can predict with absolute clarity what is going to happen:

1) A municipality with an income shortage and a large hospitality industry is going to be lobbied by a hospitality trade group.

2) That municipality is going to go on a fact-finding mission to determine how pervasive AirBnB is and estimate how much hospitality tax is being avoided through the use of "unlicensed bed and breakfasts."

3) The district attorney of that municipality is going to hit AirBnB with a discovery motion to reveal the addresses of all AirBnB hosts within the city limits for the period of discovery.

4) The district attorney of that municipality is going to sue AirBnB for the taxes owed and enjoin every AirBnB host under conspiracy charges.

5) Here it gets muddy - you can either squeeze the individual hosts to get them to pay taxes or you can get them to flip on AirBnB to up the ante towards penalties and civil charges.

6) Every other municipality with any AirBnB presence watches the outcome and when AirBnB inevitably settles, they'll be on it like piranhas on a bleeding pig.

Yeah, you're "beating the system" but "the system" is paying for its convention centers and buses and tourist attractions and infrastructure using the taxes paid by licensed hotels. Most cities aren't going to give the first shit about having someone stay in your spare bedroom every now and then so long as you're licensed and paying taxes. Not licensed and paying taxes? Uh oh.

Based on the article, I'd say New York is cresting out of (2) and lining up on (3). Expect San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Orleans to follow shortly. After that, expect hired gun law firms to start soliciting every tourist town from Juneau to Encinitas for similar work, using templates and prior experience.

In 2008, the average hospitality tax for a night at a hotel was $12.39. As of June, AirBnB has booked 10 million nights.

That's a hundred and twenty four million dollars in taxes avoided.

There's gold in them thar hills.