In 2013, Colin Gillies was feeling “a little light-pocketed” and “shut in” after an illness forced him to cut his career short as a graphic designer.

His two children had recently moved out of their west-end home at Dovercourt Rd. and College St., leaving him and his wife empty-nesters.

Gillies, now 62, turned to Airbnb, renting out the third floor of their detached home.

“It sort of brought fresh faces into the house and gave me something to do that wasn’t overtaxing for my capability,” Gillies said. “We just thought that if we could invite the world to come to us, at least I would be able to share (the experiences of) a traveller.”

Gillies is one of now 15,000 active Airbnb hosts in Ontario, including 8,600 in Toronto, according to newly released data by the company that shows the number of local renters and hosts continues to rise.

Alex Dagg, public policy manager for Airbnb Canada, says typical hosts are earning $3,900 annually from renting out their own primary residence for three to four nights a month.

“Ontario residents see that this is a way, by sharing their home when they’re travelling or away for work . . . to earn some money from their most important asset, which is their home,” Dagg said. “That’s a significant way to supplement income.”

Airbnb renters in Toronto are typically staying outside the major tourist hubs, with the east end topping the median number of nights hosted per renter, at 57 per year.

“Travellers love the opportunity to live in a neighbourhood in Toronto rather than necessarily just more typical tourist destinations,” Dagg said. “You experience living there rather than staying in a more traditional hotel. We see this as really expanding the travel market . . . It’s really about bringing more tourism dollars to Toronto or to other regions of Ontario rather than directly competing with hotels.”

Airbnb guests in Toronto tend stay longer than traditional guests, the company says. The average length of stay for an Airbnb guest is 5.4 nights compared to 4.5 nights for the typical overnight guest.

But Terry Mundell, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, which represents 170 properties and 36,000 rooms, said Airbnb’s rising business has directly hurt Toronto’s hotel industry.

“We’re happy to compete with any competitors as long as they’re following the same rules and regulations as we are and that’s clearly not the case,” he said.

Mundell said it’s unfair that Airbnb hosts pay residential property tax rather than commercial property tax like hotels do, in addition to the zoning bylaws and safety requirements hotels must comply with.

“They should be no different,” he said. “At the end of the day, renting a room is renting a room. It’s taxable. You can call yourself whatever you want, the bottom line is you’re renting a room.”

Dagg said the situations aren’t comparable.

“I’d say there’s a pretty big difference between a commercial hotel and a host who’s earning on average $3,900 a year by sharing their primary residence three or four months a year. It’s not a business,” she said. “It really acts as an economic lifeline for many families.”

The essentially unregulated service is flourishing but Toronto city hall will soon start to look at imposing rules on Airbnb hosts.

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Late last year Kristyn Wong-Tam, a downtown councillor, got agreement to have city staff study the new market. A report next month will suggest a framework for regulating Airbnb and public consultation process, with a more complete report and council debate on new rules set for 2017.

Noise, disruption to neighbours, use of homes as an “event space” and concerns that short-term rentals are being used for crimes including human trafficking all point to a need for rules, she said.

“If a company is bold enough to put ‘bnb’ in their name, they should be regulated like a bed and breakfast,” said Wong-Tam (Ward 27).

The issue is being felt in the suburbs as well. The city has charged the owner of a home in the Bayview and Cummer Aves. area with violating a zoning bylaw after complaints of noise, garbage and, on occasion, wild parties.

“When a home or a condominium is turned into an ongoing short-term rental, that’s not proper for the neighbourhood and it should not be permitted,” said that area’s councillor, David Shiner.

Gillies, who charges $125 a night for a two-bedroom space with a kitchen, bathroom and lounge, says most of his guests choose his home because it is close to a relative who they are in town to visit. About 80 per cent of Toronto guests use Airbnb for vacation, leisure or visiting family and friends, according to the company.

But in condo buildings where some owners rent out their units through Airbnb, the situation has been a disruption to many neighbours, according to Linda Pinizzotto, head of Toronto’s Condo Owners Association.

“They feel that it’s an invasion of their privacy,” she said. “The complaints that we’re getting are huge concerns of safety because they don’t know the people. All of a sudden you start seeing a bunch of strange faces roaming around the building for two days . . . People are knocking on doors asking why there’s no coffee machine. It’s nonsense.”

Pinizzotto said Airbnb renters increase traffic in the building, causing more wear and tear.

“We’re talking about people treating it as a hotel. The buildings were never made to be a bed and breakfast. They’re not equipped to be that,” she said. “It’s going to drain the maintenance fees on this buildings and the public needs to understand that if the maintenance fees continue to go up, these buildings are going to go down in value, not up.”