In drafting an ordinance to concentrate the creation of any new air B&Bs, the council will be restricting future temporary rentals of this sort into the Village Core District, in order to keep them from springing-up in the more residential districts. Several of this type of rental already exists in Fairfield, but the proposed ordinance would require any new ones to formally register as a business.

In general, air B&Bs entail the short-term rental of a bedroom (or could involve several different bedrooms), generally within an existing residential unit. Unlike established bed and breakfast inns (B&Bs for short), air B&Bs were conceived to be run out of private residential homes, or even in apartments, in the form of short-term room rentals.

The idea of the concept is that such rentals can undercut standard B&B and hotel/motel rates, making air B&Bs more lucrative for short-term stays.

Aside from centralizing the creation of these relatively new types of rentals, and requiring registration, one of the issues is inspecting these rental units. Borough Solicitor Matt Battersby noted that the air B&Bs are the "new disruptors," to the degree that even state laws have not been revised to take the new trend of temporary, transient housing into account.

He said the 2015 revisions to the Uniform Construction Code (UCC) contains a "slight reference" to the new-wave rentals, but otherwise "doesn't address air B and Bs." The current inspection codes as per the UCC "treats them (air B&Bs) like 10-room hotels," the solicitor stated, requiring the one-room rental to comply with all of the safety measures applicable to a major hotel.

But, he noted, if one were to force the air B&Bs to comply with hotel-size regulations, the operators could claim that doing so could or would put them out-of-business, and possibly give them a Fifth Amendment claim – the unlawful condemnation of property without just compensation (as was established in Pennsylvania Coal Co. vs. Mahon in 1922), or, in the words of the solicitor, those operating the air B&Bs could claim the excessive regulations resulted in "inverse condemnation."

Battersby said upgrading a one-bedroom, air B&B rental to hotel standards could cost $20-$30 thousand. "Pretty much the attitude has been (among communities in general) that, 'We'll allow them to exist, but just won't enforce the law’, "Battersby stated.

The several already-existing air B&Bs in Fairfield, according to Battersby, would be legally "grandfathered" regarding any newly created regulations.

The borough plans to adopt the ordinance, pending a review by the Adams County Office of Planning and Development.

According to thestreet.com, air B&Bs trace the origin of their name to an actual corporation that initiated the concept, Airbnb (launched in 2009, according to home.bt.com), which, in itself, is short for "air-mattress bed and breakfast." Airbnb's first rentals included inflatable bedding rather than furnishing an actual bed.