FAQ for Booking Services

What qualifies as a booking service for short-term rentals? 

A booking service is any entity that "directly or indirectly (1) provides one or more online, computer or application-based platforms that individually or collectively can be used to (i) list or advertise offers for short-term rentals, and (ii) either accept such offers, or reserve or pay for such rentals; and (2) charges, collects or receives a fee for the use of such a platform or for provision of any service in connection with a short-term rental."   

A platform is not a "booking service" if it solely lists or advertises offers for short-term rentals but does not have a mechanism to either accept the offer or pay for the rental. 

What do booking services need to do to comply with New York City’s short-term rental laws? 

Booking services have two main obligations under New York City’s short-term rental laws, need to submit quarterly reports and verify registration status: 

1)  Booking services, or online platforms that provide short-term rental booking services for a fee, must verify the registration status of a short-term rental listing using an application programming interface (API) maintained by the Office of Special Enforcement. The verification process will confirm that a short-term rental transaction is either for a dwelling unit on the Class B Multiple Dwellings List or is associated with a valid short-term rental registration . 

For information on how to conduct verifications, contact OSE at ose@ose.nyc.gov. 

What data do booking services need to report? 

2) All booking services must submit a quarterly report that includes details for all rental transactions for each qualifying listing. A "qualifying listing" is a listing or advertisement that offers or appears to offer a short-term rental of either "an entire dwelling unit or housing accommodation," or "for three or more individuals at the same time."  

Additionally, booking services are required to report to OSE the public uniform resource locator for the listing or another identifier and the unique confirmation number obtained from the electronic verification system for each transaction.  

Listings that "appear to offer ... an entire dwelling unit" can use various terms to imply that the entirety of a housing type is being rented. Examples may include "apartment," "condo," "house," "studio," or "townhouse," "condo," etc. 

For information on how to comply with reporting requirements, contact OSE at reportinglaw@ose.nyc.gov.