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> The city also extended its 14-percent hotel tax to STR operators and made it illegal to operate them without a valid business license. According to one estima
by abeppu 3y ago
> The city also extended its 14-percent hotel tax to STR operators and made it illegal to operate them without a valid business license. According to one estimate, the ordinance has since dropped the city’s number of Airbnb listings by 61 percent, potentially returning more than 1,000 homes to the long-term rental or purchasing markets.
This change actually just seems like it's just slightly leveling the playing field. Why _wouldn't_ STRs have to pay a hotel tax if they're addressing the same market? Why shouldn't full-time STRs need business licenses?
- gedy 3y agoDoes this really fix corporate real estate holders hoarding property? Seems it just hits the individuals renting a room out etc, which is not the housing problem with AirBNB.
- abeppu 3y agoNo, it does not -- but it fixes at least one aspect of short-term rentals having a structural advantage supporting them undercutting hotels. Back when it seemed that AirBnBs were pretty consistently cheaper than hotels (esp when accounting for space), part of that comes from service differences (self-check-in, no onsite staff), but part came from "unfair" legal and regulatory differences -- your AirBnB could be in place where zoning wouldn't allow a hotel, your AirBnB wasn't paying this 2-digit tax, etc.