It’s Finally Friday! 🍻
In Wellington, Florida, a new ordinance limits vacation rentals to two people per bedroom (not counting toddlers). Also, one vehicle is allowed per bedroom, four vehicles maximum not including vehicles in garages. If the vacation rental has more than four bedrooms and sits on an acre or more of land, the guest is allowed an additional vehicle for each bedroom greater than four. Any vehicles parked outside must be in the driveway, parking apron or other designated parking area.
Well, ok then! Maybe this is a reaction to all the “house party” stuff in the news recently?
How badly impacted is Hawaii’s tourism industry these days? The Hawaii Tourism Authority released data on Tuesday that showed vacation rentals across the state were only at 14% occupancy during July. Looking back to 2019, vacation rentals were 78% occupied. The report takes data from 16,214 units and 28,372 bedrooms. Maui County took the largest hit with a reported occupancy at just 9%. Wow.
No more single night bookings in Chicago. In an effort to crack down on “house parties”, Mayor Lightfoot has implemented stricter rules for vacation rentals. A new ordinance, banning one night bookings, would like to make the decision permanent, although the commissioner of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and the police superintendent could decide to revert back and allow one night rentals, without needing City Council approval.
This smells less like a house-party reaction and more like hotel lobbying by Chicago hotels.
Carlsbad, California has decided to raise taxes for short-term rentals. The city council approved an increase in its tax rate from $1 per night to 2% of the gross room rentals, which will go into effect November 1st. There are around 270 short-term rentals in the city, and as you can imagine they aren’t happy. So far five protest letters from vacation rental owners were submitted to the council.
By the way, that’s a massive increase percentage-wise. A weekend rental for $500 just went from $2 in tax to $10 (a 5 fold increase)! Granted, two bucks is pretty small to begin with.
