The hotel industry is starting to object. On Wednesday, a report funded by a national trade group claimed some Airbnb hosts function illegally and operate essentially as full-time hotels without the same health and safety oversight. It also says they can reduce the number of affordable options for full-time renters.
The home-rental site has stirred tensions in cities such as New York City, San Francisco, Paris and Barcelona. Austin has created new short-term rental regulations as a result.
In Houston, which does not have similar regulations, the city’s primary tourism agency is working with Airbnb and similar operators about taxes.
A city of Houston spokesman said Wednesday that the state is responsible for health and safety regulations that affect short-term rentals. But a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, which regulates hotels and bed-and-breakfast operators, said it does not have a role in Airbnb or short-term rentals.
Houston is the state’s second-largest Airbnb market, behind Austin, and officials are preparing for an increase in tourism around the 2017 Super Bowl. It was one of a dozen large U.S. cities included in the American Hotel & Lodging Association study released Wednesday by Pennsylvania State University’s School of Hospitality Management. Researchers tracked Airbnb data from a 13-month period.
“This study shows an explosion in activity among multi-unit hosts and the rise of full-time operators in each of the 12 markets we analyzed. Further, operators renting out three or more units represent a disproportionate share of revenue with only 7 percent driving more than $325 million in the period studied,” said John O’Neill, the Penn State professor who directed the research and is director of the school’s Center for Hospitality Real Estate Strategy.
The study found that nearly 30 percent of the revenue generated from hosts comes from people operating as full-time landlords, or 360 days a year. Individuals or entities renting out two or more residential properties on Airbnb account for 17 percent of hosts and drive nearly 40 percent of the revenue in those markets, according to the study.
The report found that in Houston there are 30 full-time operators who rent out their space for at least 360 days a year, generating $3 million in revenue during the 13-month period studied. In all, 956 hosts generated a total of $11 million in revenue, the report said.
It found 83 hosts operating three or more properties and 82 others with two units.
A copy of that report is here. AirBnB has disputed its findings and released its own report about its potential tax revenue for cities. I have no judgment about who is right or wrong in their facts and figures, I’m more interested in how cities are going to react to AirBnB, which I presume they’re going to have to do sooner or later. So far it has not been on the radar in Houston, but it has been in Austin and may be in San Antonio and elsewhere. I’ll be a little surprised if we see AirBnB regulation on the Council agenda in the near future, but if there’s any indication that it’s negatively affecting hotel tax revenue that could change.
San Francisco’s experience to date in attempting to regulate AirBnB probably well-illustrates what municipalities are up against. https://ballotpedia.org/City_of_San_Francisco_Initiative_to_Restrict_Short-Term_Rentals,_Proposition_F_(November_2015)