Group Forms to Influence Short-Term Rental Regulations

A group of four big short-term rental Web sites–Airbnb HomeAway, TripAdvisor, and FlipKey–recently announced that they’re starting the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center. The site will aggregate short-term-rental-friendly regulations from around the country in hopes of creating a legislative blueprint that cities can use to craft new short-term rental regulations.

Short-term rental sites have said they are in favor of cities taxing short-term rentals much like cities and counties slap occupancy taxes on hotels and inns. In the past, they’ve argued that cities that ban the practice are losing out on precious tax dollars.

Not surprisingly, on the regulation front, the coalition says it prefers a light touch. “We believe existing ‘good neighbor’ laws provide sufficient protection against any disruptive behavior on the part of long-term residents or their guests,” the group says in its press release.