Photo via boycott-airbnb.org
On 8 October 2025, labor unions, advocacy groups and elected officials called for a boycott of short-term rental company Airbnb as an effort to compel the company to drop a lawsuit against the City of San Francisco for a $120 million business tax refund, which Airbnb claims stems from city officials misclassifying Airbnb as a business. According to KQED, the city has denied Airbnb's appeal of the decision.
Union representatives blame litigation from Airbnb and other San Francisco tech companies for exacerbating a budget crunch that has precipitated steep cuts to programs that provide food and housing for the needy and caused the loss of 1,400 city jobs.
A website launched by the labor-led coalition gives three strong reasons for the boycott. In addition to the aforementioned lawsuit, the website talks about how Airbnb is converting residential properties into boutique hotels, enabling them to circumvent short-term rental regulations as they fuel San Francisco's continuous housing crisis by displacing residents. The website also notes that on 25 August 2025, President Donald Trump hired Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia to lead the National Design Studio within the White House with the purpose of “breathing new life into the design of sites where people interface with their Government.” Since then, Gebbia also joined the Department of Government Efficiency, and directly participated in the cutting of jobs and vital social services.
Although Gebbia left his operating role at Airbnb in 2022, he still serves on their board of directors.
Supervisor Chan at a rally in front of Airbnb’s headquarters. Photo via boycott-airbnb.org
During a rally in front of Airbnb’s headquarters on Brannan Street, progressive District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan stated, “They've been making billions of dollars, starting from San Francisco, taking our affordable housing stock from our residents and they make profits out of it, and what happened when they make that profit? Instead of contributing back to San Francisco, they rob us some more…When a city that has given them so much now is facing a budget deficit of $800 million in the next two fiscal years, what did Airbnb do? They filed lawsuits against us so they don’t have to pay their fair share… When Airbnb does not pay their fair share, it hurts all San Franciscans, when we cut city services to clean our streets, keep our libraries open, and Muni buses running. We all must boycott Airbnb until they do right by our city.”
As a result of the lawsuit, two-thirds of the monies Airbnb is trying to reclaim is tied up and cannot be used on city infrastructure, which gives San Francisco fewer resources to offset the Trump regime's funding cuts.
According to KQED, Airbnb has stated that it has contributed $3.8 billion dollars in total tax revenue to the state of California in 2024. Meanwhile, their lawsuit is set to go to trial in February.
