Category: Effortless Rental Group News

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Helping Those In Need

As life as we know it comes to a slowdown, if not a halt, we are given the opportunity to reflect on what we have and all that we are grateful for.  While I have felt especially grateful to have a roof over my head and food in my refrigerator, there are individuals experiencing homelessness that don’t have the ability to ‘stay home’ and away from potential exposure to COVID-19.  People experiencing homelessness are at particular risk for spreading the virus because often they live in close quarters with extremely limited sanitation facilities. In order to prevent the community spread of the virus in homeless shelters and public spaces, there is a dire need for space for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Mile High Hosts has reached out to our local city representatives letting them know our hosting community is aware of this need.  We understand that opening up your space to those in need is not something everyone is comfortable doing, but for anyone who might have a usable space is asked to email housingstability@denvergov.org, and volunteers are asked to reach out to the Mile High United Way or the Denver Rescue Mission atunitedwaydenver.org/volunteer or DenverRescueMission.org/volunteer, respectively.

Read more about this from the Denver Posts here.

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Colorado Local News Construction & Development Effortless Rental Group News Hosting Tips Rules & Regulations STR Industry News

New STR Ordinance Language Update

Before the COVID-19 consumed our thoughts and inboxes, our community had a mission to ensure the newly proposed short-term rental ordinance language did not negatively impact the hosting community.  Many of you wrote or had face-to-face meetings with your city councilmembers and some spoke publicly at the Biz Committee meeting on March 11th.  Many expressed their concerns with the new language, specifically about “fixed habitation” and the potential of license denial based on the number of days that the short-term rental has been, or will be, rented within the calendar year.

During the Biz meeting on the 11th, Excise and Licenses (EXL) presented the new language to a sub-committee of city councilmembers and fielded many questions.  What came as a pleasant surprise to many of us attending the meeting, was what EXL confirmed with members of city council. Ashley Kilroy, the Director of EXL, said that they would not be denying a license based on lifestyle or frequency of travel — this is something we have seen as the reason for license denial or investigation in the past.  While it looks likely that this ordinance language will pass, we are optimistic that our community has made its voice heard, bringing to the attention of the City Council and the Director that we are gravely concerned about how this language will potentially shut down good hosts.

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Airbnb News Effortless Rental Group News STR Industry News

Airbnb Scales Back Marketing – Top Execs Take Pay Cut

As the travel and hospitality industry is one of the biggest sectors hurt by COVID-19, it comes as no surprise to learn that Airbnb has suspended all of its marketing in an attempt to save $800 million this year.

Airbnb’s founders will also not take a salary for the next six months, and top executives will take a 50 percent pay cut, according to Reuters. The company has paused hiring as well, with the exception of a few key roles. (Read the full article here).

Airbnb announced plans to go public last September, reporting over $1 billion in revenue for Q2 2019.  Airbnb’s losses nearly doubled in Q4 last year, before the pandemic became a global issue, according to Bloomberg.

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Airbnb News Effortless Rental Group News Rules & Regulations Travel

Airbnb’s Brian Chesky – “We want to fix this.”

Image: Yahoo Finance

On the afternoon of March 30th, the CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, conducted a live stream for the hosting community.  Here is a summary of what Brian said:

  • Travel is at an all-time low
  • Recognition and apology that Airbnb has drifted from the host-focus it was created on
  • COVID-19 cancellation policy was set for the sake of public health. He apologizes for not consulting hosts (violation of partnership)

Actions going forward:

  • Extenuating circumstance policy – established a $250 million fund to pay hosts 25% of canceled booking. Retroactive to March 14. Cancellations before March 14 will be based on host cancellation policy
  • Establishment of $5000 grants for Superhosts and Experience Leaders up to a total of $10 million coming early April
  • Previous guests will be able to send messages and donations directly to hosts. Expected effective date: early April
  • For USA hosts only: COVID-19 stimulus bill allows Airbnb hosts to be eligible for SBA loans and grants, as well as unemployment benefits

You can view the message and read the details here.

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Effortless Rental Group News Rules & Regulations STR Industry News Travel

Senate & House Pass CARES Act

Tight shot of the United States Capitol Dome in Washington DC, USA. Study of the architecture detail.

The CARES Act passed the Senate and House last week providing relief to businesses across the U.S. This bill has provisions specifically targeting affected businesses in the tourism industry. These provisions will be available through grants at the state and local level. Advocating on behalf of the Short-Term Rental Industry is extremely important during this economic crisis.

This legislation provides direct cash payments of as much as $1,200 for individual taxpayers, and $500 per child, phased out when incomes exceed $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples filing jointly. This also dramatically expands unemployment insurance benefits and provides an additional $600 per week for those receiving unemployment benefits. The bill provides $349 billion dollars in much-needed, low-interest, small business loans that could be partially forgiven to help businesses maintain payroll and avoid laying off workers. It also directs billions of dollars toward hospitals and other health care providers on the frontlines of this pandemic, in part to help them purchase additional life-saving protective equipment.

VRMA has provided a high-level overview and breakdown of this bill, which you can read here.

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Denver STRAC Meetings – Make Your Voice Heard!

Photo by Miguel Henriques on Unsplash

3 Ways to Make Your Voice Heard and show how short-term rentals help support our families, jobs, local neighborhood businesses, and the City’s growth.

#1) Attend and speak at the next STRAC meeting:  
There are opportunities for public comment at these meetings and it is important for your voice to be heard.

Upcoming STRAC (Short-Term Rental Advisory Committee) Meetings:

  • Tuesday, April 14
  • Tuesday, June 9
  • Tuesday, August 11
  • Tuesday, October 13
  • Tuesday, December 8

#2) Speak at City Council Meetings:
Denver City Council meetings take place twice a month on the first and third Monday.  Each speaker gets 3 minutes to speak.  All details can be found here.  If you are interested in learning more and getting involved please email milehighhosts@gmail.com.

#3) Schedule Coffee with your City Council Member:
Email milehighhosts@gmail.com and we will help you schedule a 1:1 appointment with your city council member.  They are happy to meet with you as this is part of their responsibility as representatives of us all.

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Effortless Rental Group News Hosting Tips

Local Business Spotlight: Joyful Soul

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

A Story of Economic Success

Joyful Soul

www.joyfulsoulcleaning.com
Owner: Kayla Darling
Year opened: 2017
Number of employees: 12

Denver is home to some incredible vendors who work hard to ensure that home-sharing can be an excellent experience for hosts, guests and the community at large. One of the key players in your home-sharing success is the cleaning company you choose to hire. Joyful Soul Cleaning mainly employs single mothers.  Their team is skillfully trained to pay attention to the unique details of your property, send you important reports as well as make your home beautifully guest-ready. Joyful Soul Cleaning’s hard work is reflected in the 5-star reviews they consistently help to generate for their customers’ listings.

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Construction & Development Effortless Rental Group News

STR’s Effect on Housing Affordability

Studies Show STRs Modestly Impact Housing Affordability

One of the hottest topics of debate is that short-term rentals (STRs) are to blame for increased pricing and a lack of affordable housing. Some cities, including Denver, claim that the reason they chose the primary residence requirement was to protect housing affordability. However, EXL’s own study contradicts the common misconceptions that STRs are to blame for the lack of affordable housing.

In a Wall Street Journal article published in November of 2019, it was reported that STRs have not significantly contributed to the rise in American housing costs, according to a nationwide study by Oxford Economics. “In the first such study to cover every U.S. county where data was available, the report found that over a four-year period only 0.2 percentage point of the 4.3% rise in inflation-adjusted rent could be attributed to the effects of short-term rentals. For home sales, the increase amounts to less than $9 on the average monthly mortgage payment.”

In April of 2019, Excise & Licenses hired Denver Economic Development and Opportunity to research the impact of STRs on the housing marketing. The findings showed that STRs make up 1% of the housing supply and therefore the report concluded that STR’s do not impact housing prices nor rents.

It’s time to put the affordable housing argument to rest. It’s time to find a way to allow citizens to practice their rights while also ensuring outside investors can’t just swoop up the block.

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Effortless Rental Group News Events Hosting Tips Rules & Regulations

Airbnb Bans House Parties

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

A Step in the Right Direction

Since conception in 2008, Airbnb properties have taken on many shapes and sizes, from renting an air mattress on a living room floor to full homes that can sleep large groups. More recently the talk of the town has been ‘party houses’, which have unfortunately been the scene of open-invite parties and gun violence.

In response to these recent events, including deadly shootings in other cities, Airbnb announced at the end of last year that they would be banning party houses including parties in condos and apartments. Airbnb has created a Neighborhood Support site with contact info to report parties or disturbances: https://www.airbnb.com/neighbors. Additionally, Airbnb says it’s opening a dedicated hotline for mayors and city officials. We are eager to see these steps taken in order to protect not only our guests and hosting community, but our city at large.

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Effortless Rental Group News Rules & Regulations

Felony Charges against Aaron Elinoff Dismissed in Court

On December 12th, Westword published an article sharing the news that a Denver judge has exonerated Aaron Elinoff by dismissing the felony charges claiming that he was trying to cheat the system with his short-term rental license.

While some City Representatives applaud the use of the affidavit as a means of enforcement, we can see the potential havoc it can cause in an individual’s life as well. If the city’s goal is to have fewer short-term rentals, then the affidavit is successfully accomplishing this. On the other hand, if the city is looking for harmony and supports this community, then a focus on solutions to address the problems would seem like a more diplomatic approach.

We are happy to see Elinoff’s name be cleared and so he can get back to life with his family and focus on work. It makes us wonder how many rule-abiding hosts forfeited their license out of fear of having their reputation damaged and mugshot blasted globally?

Photo: Aaron Elinoff had been fighting against a felony charge related to his short term rental application / Courtesy of Aaron Elinoff