Ask the Attorney General to review the platform terms

This note asks the West Virginia Attorney General and the Consumer Protection Division to review platform terms that restrict independent short-term rental operators. For reservations booked on or after November 20, 2026, Airbnb Help Center article 4169 generally bars hosts from collecting a guest’s phone number, email, or ID, or requiring a signed rental agreement, unless a law or a documented HOA or community rule requires it. Hotels, resorts, and Airbnb Luxe on the same platform may still use registration forms and ID practices that ordinary home hosts may not.

Airbnb Help Center article 1237 and Airbnb Help Center article 3033 say the platform checks the booking guest, often without a government ID, and that the check does not guarantee who someone is. Other occupants usually are not checked. An insurer’s request for a rental agreement does not, by itself, unlock the exception in Airbnb Help Center article 4169. Local governments can already require a guest register under that exception. Statewide clarity would help hosts, guests, neighbors, and first responders.

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