Short-Term Rentals and Airbnb

1. AIRBNB & SHORT-TERM RENTALS
AUGUST 8, 2019

2. HOME SHARING RENTAL MODEL
 Primary providers
 Airbnb
 Founded in 2008, operates in nearly
100,000 cities across 191 countries; 6+
million places to stay
 Maintains “Voluntary Collection
Agreements” (VCAs) with 43 US states and
approximately 400 local entities
 Expedia Group: owns HomeAway, VRBO,
VacationRentals, and others
 Collection of Hotel Occupancy Taxes
 State of Texas:
 Airbnb VCA, 5/1/2017
 HomeAway agreement, 4/1/2019
 Cities in Texas:
 Plano, 5/1/2019
 Houston, 7/1/2019

3. VOLUNTARY COLLECTION AGREEMENTS
 Authorizes Airbnb to collect and remit taxes on behalf of hosts
 Erodes some local control
 Forfeit auditing powers
 No personally identifiable information of hosts (e.g., addresses or names of taxpayers)
 Aggregate of gross and taxable receipts
 Cities could require registration from hosts, however
 Prohibits cities from attempting to collect back taxes
 HomeAway agreement similar in scope

4. VOLUNTARY COLLECTION AGREEMENTS
 Provides mechanism for tax collection
 May violate:
 Zoning and Use ordinances
 Occupancy standards
 Building and fire codes
 Non-local operators
 Lack the data for proper enforcement
 Threat of transition from “home sharing” to commercial-style operation

5. IMPACT IN COLLEGE STATION
 Tax collection
 City levies 7% HOT where cost of occupancy is $2 or more per day for stays less than 30 days
 Requires every operator to collect and report to City the applicable tax
 In addition to hotels, City collects approximately $50,000 annually from registered B&B’s
 Airbnb estimates Brazos County bookings during 2018 football season resulted in $963,000 in host
income through 8,500 guest arrivals
 Regulation
 Currently short-term rentals only allowed in a single-family neighborhood if operating as a B&B
 Homeowner Associations through deed restrictions
 Enforcement
 Resources to achieve compliance

6. ADDRESSING THE QUESTION OF SHORT-TERM RENTALS
 Opportunities
 Access this growing market
 Untapped revenue stream for additional HOT
 Review existing UDO
 Create a more level playing field from a HOT
perspective
 Allows for agreements with Airbnb and
HomeAway, which would collect and remit
HOT taxes to City
 Concerns about major commercial STR
enterprises in College Station likely not as
significant as other cities
 Challenges
 Cost/benefit of revenue collected: actual
dollars vs. requirements of effective
enforcement
 Perceived favoritism to certain lodging
operators
 Indirect effects of intermittent stays
 Limited information from providers regarding
stays (e.g., Airbnb)
 Impact on affordable housing

7. DIRECTION MOVING FORWARD
 Research and benchmarking
 Maintain current ordinances and enforcement
 Review UDO
 Changes would ultimately involve 2 public hearings, P&Z, and Council input
 Consideration of agreements with home sharing providers