After lawsuit settlement, will Aimco and Aibnb develop a special web presence to reflect their new relationship?
On Monday, this space Oakland News Now reported the following about Aimco and Aibnb:
A Florida trial between Aimco, one of the nation’s largest apartment property owners, and San Francisco-based tech giant Airbnb, scheduled to start Monday, could determine the viability of a large chunk of the online community marketplace’s business…. Apartment home provider Aimco filed a lawsuit against Airbnb in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami, in an effort to stop the tech company from listing the company’s apartment properties on the Airbnb website. Aimco’s apartment leases specifically prohibit renters to sub-lease their apartments. In the lawsuit, Aimco said that it has asked Airbnb to stop listing its
apartments on Airbnb.com, but that the short-term rental company has refused.
The court affair was expected to become a jury trial, and the first court case involving a property owner and Airbnb that would do so.
Then, on Tuesday, the unexpected happened:
Earlier today, Apartment Investment and Management Company (Aimco) and Airbnb jointly announced the settlement of all their disputes and the dismissal of all litigation between them and issued the following statement: “Apartment Investment and Management Company (Aimco) and Airbnb jointly announced today a settlement of all their disputes and the dismissal of all litigation between them. The parties believe the settlement is in both sides’ best interests. Aimco believes that the parties’ agreement provides
Aimco with the ability to control short-term rental activity consistent with its contract and property rights. As part of the settlement, Aimco and Airbnb have agreed to meet to discuss opportunities in the multifamily housing industry.”
What’s not clear is what that means. Does it mean that the Airbnb website is automatically closed off to Aimco properties, and if so, it’s certainly not a technical adjustment that is already in place. Moreover, it would take some time and talks to first come to an agreement on such a user-interface. Or does it mean that any time a Aimco property is the focus of use by an Airbnb customer, the landlord is notified as a kind of breakwater against a signup?
And what about the mini-market that the Zennie62 vlog pointed to:
Whatever the case, the legal battle has been averted. For now.
Stay tuned.