Machine learning algorithms can leverage vast amounts of consumer data, allowing automation of business decisions such as pricing, product offerings, and promotions. Airbnb, an online marketplace for vacation rentals and other lodging, created an algorithm-based smart-pricing tool that is free to all Airbnb hosts and allows hosts to set their properties' daily price automatically. A new study investigated the impact of Airbnb's algorithm on racial disparities among Airbnb hosts. Adopting the tool narrowed the revenue gap between white and Black hosts considerably, but because far fewer Black hosts used the algorithm, the revenue gap between white and Black hosts actually increased after the tool's introduction. The study, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), is forthcoming in Marketing Science.

Massachusetts Lodging Association President Paul Sacco dismissed Airbnb's criticism, saying it has "nothing to do with protecting middle class home sharing and everything to do with protecting the wealthy investor class hosts who have made it a big business to buy up scarce housing and convert it to illegal, unregulated and untaxed hotels at the expense of local residents and neighbors."

Savannah's regulations include, among other things, only allowing the rentals in certain parts of the city and ensuring that no more than 20 percent of the homes in areas such as the historic district are available for rent at a time.

More than two years after Los Angeles lawmakers unveiled a proposal to legalize and regulate the popular practice of renting out rooms or whole homes for short stays, the city has yet to pass any new restrictions on Airbnb and similar platforms. For the second time this year, hundreds of people crowded into City Hall on Tuesday for a hearing on the proposed regulations, but a City Council committee held off voting on the plan. Instead, lawmakers asked city staff to report back with additional options, including loosening the proposed rules to allow people to rent out a second home for short stays. Renting out a home or room for less than 30 days at a time is currently illegal in many residential areas of Los Angeles, according to planning officials. But as the phenomenon has exploded with the rise of Airbnb and similar platforms that allow hosts to offer rooms or entire homes to travelers, those rules have rarely been enforced.

Betty, a resplendent royal blue 1999 Paul Smith Mini Cooper, has just arrived downstairs. Handing over the keys is a tweed-wearing, bearded Tony Grant, who owns 10 such Minis with names like Poppy, Mildred and Lulu. Self-styled "Head Gasket" at Small Car Big City, he is adding a new twist to the car hire and car-sharing business. As part of the fun, there are fancy dress outfits in the boot to match The Italian Job film theme, along with a crowbar and a bar of (imitation) gold. I booked Betty through recently launched car sharing app Turo, which is aiming to bring an Airbnb vibe to the world of wheels.