I thought the whole point of AirBnB ... was basically to skirt all of these rules and provide a place for people who don't want to bother with all of the legal niceties to setup pseudo hotels.
Not at all. They're designed to properly connect people who have and who need rooms. Yes, they are being challenged, but that's precisely because too many people are blatantly violating the law and/or their own lease restrictions. It's not because AirBnB is doing anything wrong. If anything, AirBnB slaps you in the face with the legal concerns at every opportunity.
More generally, AirBnB is simply a clearinghouse for anyone who wants to rent space on a short-term basis. They connect individuals, handle transferring funds, and provide insurance for the space owner. If you do research, they've got a really solid thing going with a lot of good protections for everyone involved, and the vast majority of the feedback is very positive.
In my case, it's not that I'm away. Rather, I have an apartment we built for a family member who's now in a nursing home. We'd easily be able to rent it as a fully-furnished apartment with all amenities. But other family members often come from out of town to visit the person in the nursing home. They stay in the apartment, which saves them $80 or more per night. It happens regularly enough that I can't rent it out in a normal sense. AirBnB is perfect for my situation, because I could rent it day-by-day, then not rent it for a weekend when family will be in town or when we're out of town.
Since I am NOT interested in getting in the nearly-guaranteed legal trouble if I just wing it, I'm quite willing to do the necessary steps with the county/state, to make potentially hundreds of dollars a month.
So I'm hoping someone out there in forum-land has actually leased space with AirBnB and can share tips and stories.