Airbnb goes on charm offensive as it faces increased San Francisco regulation

Last time Airbnb launched an ad campaign as it was facing regulation, it didn't go so well.

The company's ads in New York City ended up being defaced in subways, and one of the Airbnb ad "stars" was evicted after her landlord found out she was listing rooms on the platform.

This time, though, Airbnb is focusing on the money and what it's doing for the city.

The ads are cute and heartwarming.

Older San Francisco residents and small businesses talk about how they rely on Airbnb income to stay in the city, which has the highest rent in the nation.

Rodolfo and Karen Cancino thanked Airbnb for keeping them in the house they got married in 39 years ago.

Bar owners in the Mission neighborhood, which is ground zero for a lot of San Francisco's housing trouble, praised Airbnb for giving tourists a place to stay since the area doesn't have any hotels.

While the videos may make me want to hug Rodolfo and Karen, the billboards focus on the economics and offer some pretty staggering stats about the money flowing into the city because of Airbnb:

The campaign in San Francisco launches as Airbnb is waiting for the city's Board of Supervisors to make up its mind on legislation capping the number of days, if at all, a host can rent a unit. In the interim, the company and the city have been trading reports back-and-forth about what Airbnb is doing to the housing supply and contributing monetarily.

It looks like Airbnb is hoping to make that message crystal clear and maybe tug on our heart strings a bit in the process.