Agreed. It strikes me as correct that if I rent/own an apartment in NYC, I should not have to deal with my neighbor's AirBnB business. There is room for compromise, but I would tend to favor putting the burden on AirBnB.
No different, IMO. I live in a typical suburb - 4 bedroom homes, quarter acre lots. I don't want my neighbor running a B&B.
Is there room for compromise? Maybe. On general principle, I wouldn't mind my neighbor renting his house for a few weeks while he's on vacation. But, if the renter isn't a good guest (noisy). Or, instead of one renter for the duration, it's a new guest each night, I probably have a problem. Until AirBnB can convince me nothing like that will happen, I'd just as soon keep the rules as they are.
You're still skirting hotel regulations and occupancy taxes. There's a difference between, "My friend's coming to stay for awhile," and "$100/night to stay at Chateau d'Moi!"
There's a bunch of free-standing houses scattered through Inwood and Marble Hill. Not that they're a large portion of Manhattan's housing stock, and they're certainly not central, but they're there.
That listing's claiming to be the only free-standing mansion - which sounds a bit arbitrary to me.