Just a point: Could AirBnB not lobby for something like a tax break on hotels with excessive vacancy, and then utilize the fact that the rooms are always available but often sparsely rented (and if this is not true, get a ton of signups that are horrible via blackhatcheatery and make it look that way anyways)? They could just get a huge tax break that still considers them a hotel but abuses the 'normal' understanding of the hotel business model that they are disrupting.

Not saying anyone should ever do it. Moreso just food for thought. Do they pull an Uber and look at the law, then flagrantly laugh, or play a cold calculated game as this gets bigger and their valuation climbs?