Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s spokeswoman is headed to Airbnb to serve as the short-term rental company’s deputy manager for the Southern California area, according to company officials and the mayor’s office.

Connie Llanos, who became press secretary for Garcetti in mid-2015, will serve until the end of the year in the mayor’s office and begin working at Airbnb on Jan. 9.

One of two spokespersons for the mayor, Llanos will be replaced by George Kivork, a “chief advocate” based out of Washington, D.C., who worked on federal issues affecting Los Angeles, according to the mayor’s office. Kivork will begin on Jan. 3.

The hiring of Llanos by Airbnb comes as the Los Angeles City Council works to craft regulation of the short-term rental industry.

Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty said the company is “excited” about Llanos’ hiring, citing her knowledge of policy issues and familiarity with the players at City Hall.

“Her wealth of experience working on some of the city’s most important issues — including housing, homelessness and immigrant affairs — means she not only understands the needs and concerns of everyday people who depend on home sharing to help make ends meet, but also how to work with city officials to create common sense solutions,” Nulty said.

Some observers, however, voiced concern that the relationship between Airbnb and City Hall could be getting too cozy, with the move considered a potential conflict of interest.

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Richard Close, a real estate attorney and president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, said the hiring is indicative of a “revolving door at City Hall” in which staffers build up influence, then go on to work in the private sector.

“It’s a potential conflict of interest because the company is buying the contacts of the former city employee,” Close said. “The problem is, she has confidential inside information on what the mayor is thinking on this issue, and what council people she used to work for think about this issue. So it’s both confidential information and potential for lobbying.”

“She knows the confidential goals of the mayor, and she’s now going to share them with Airbnb,” Close said. “That doesn’t seem appropriate.”

In addition to the various provisions in the city’s legislation, other issues up for negotiation could include the amount of taxes the city could impose on short-term rentals.

Vicki Curry, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, denied a conflict of interest exists with Llanos’ departure to Airbnb.

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Llanos said she will not be registering as a lobbyist. Arnie Berghoff is listed in the city’s ethics records as the lobbyist on record for Airbnb.

Bob Stern, a former president of the Center for Governmental Studies and co-author of Los Angeles’ ethics laws, said that Llanos would need to refrain from sharing confidential information or participating in lobbying activities.

“It really depends on what she’s been doing,” Stern said. “If she’s going to be merely advising on strategy and so forth there really is no problem. If she is lobbying, then there is a problem.”

He added that there should be a “balance” in limiting what people can do once they leave a government job. As long as they are being hired for their expertise on how the government agency works, but not sharing specific “inside” information or lobbying, “you should certainly be allowed to work for an industry or company even though they are regulated by the city,” Stern said.

Llanos will join others with ties to City Hall who have gone on to work with Airbnb on the company’s Southern California efforts, including John Choi, a former Board of Public Works member and staffer in former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s administration.

Llanos will be working under Choi, who handles policy for Airbnb’s Southern California campaign. Her tasks will include strategic communications and community outreach.

Before being appointed press secretary for Garcetti, Llanos served as a press deputy for council members Curren Price, Tony Cárdenas and Felipe Fuentes. She worked on the mayoral campaign of Garcetti’s opponent, Wendy Greuel, prior to joining the Garcetti administration. She also worked for several years as a Los Angeles Daily News reporter.