The small business sector suffers due to biased regulations favoring hotels over Airbnb

In another loss for the little guys, the hotel-industry-driven city crackdown on Airbnb rentals has succeeded. Sorry, would-be tourists — you’ll have to spend your money in some other town.

New regulations kicked in Sept. 5, limiting short-term rentals to just two guests and requiring hosts to remain in the home for all rentals under 30 days — plus all units must get city approval after registering.

And fines (for both the would-be host and Airbnb itself) start at $5,000.

In other words, the typical Airbnb deal (renting an apartment for a weekend or a week) is completely illegal. Naturally, Airbnb listings in the Big Apple plunged 77%.

It’s a win for the industry, which expects per-hotel-room profits to bump as much as 5% now that key competition’s been banned, and for the hotel unions, which obsess about Airbnb as a supposed threat to members’ jobs.

And so 15,000 or so New Yorkers have lost the chance to earn some extra cash to help cover the bills, while the folks who would’ve stayed in those units either choose a new destination or get set to pay through the nose for less space in a hotel.

That number — just 15,000 — also puts the lie to the idea that Airbnb has a darn thing to do with the city housing crisis: Even if all those units had been dedicated to full-time Airbnb rentals (in fact, most were just people renting out their own living space for a short while), this is not enough to dent the overall shortage.

Meanwhile, the hotel market — at around 125,000 rooms — doesn’t need the help of less competition: It’s already benefiting from the tens of thousands of illegal migrants getting put up at taxpayer expense.

Special interests served: check. Minor entrepreneurs and budget-challenged would-be visitors slammed: check. Taxpayers lose: check.

City politics is still working as usual.