Category: STR Industry News

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Colorado Local News Effortless Rental Group News Events Hosting Tips Rules & Regulations STR Industry News Travel

Mile High Hosts & COVID Resources

The Mile High Host community is made up of a wide variety of individuals, from a host renting a room in their house to Realtors wanting to keep up on the latest short-term rental regulations and property managers managing numerous properties throughout the city.  We want to provide resources to help you navigate these rapidly changing times.

Coronavirus Survival Kit for STR Hosts: 

Industry experts, Jasper Ribbers and Eric Moeller have put together a tool kit for individuals hosts.  They gathered tips, tricks, tools and resources to save you time and help your STR business survive.

The kit is designed to help you:

  • Survive and thrive through this crisis
  • Maintain occupancy
  • Stay in business
  • Prepare for the opportunities that will come

This kit is only $7 to download and jam-packed with helpful information and resources.

VRMA COVID-19 Resources:

While VRMA is an organization geared toward the professional short-term rental property manager, they have compiled helpful information and resources to navigate the uncertain time ahead.

Click here to view the massive list of resources they’ve compiled.

Support Local:

When all else fails and you need to blow off some steam, keep in mind that you can support your local restaurants and order cocktails to go.  Westword put together a piece highlighting which restaurants are serving craft cocktails to go. One trend that has emerged from this pandemic is the proliferation of virtual happy hours — we truly are a species that thrives off of human connection.  Cheers!

Here are a handful of additional articles and local resources:

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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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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.