New study finds paths to more effective short-term rental regulations

Rent Responsibly and the College of Charleston have released the 2024 State of the Short-Term Rental (STR) Industry Report, the largest study of its kind exploring the STR industry and the local STR regulatory landscape across the US.

Researchers surveyed more than 5,000 STR owners and property managers about their properties, operations, technology, marketing, regulations, and more.

Researchers also surveyed more than 2,000 local government staff and elected officials about their communities, including their housing supplies, tourism economies, STR ordinance provisions, and policy objectives.

The combined surveys yielded more than 130,000 new data points. The full report can be downloaded here.

Some key findings:

• 94.6% of STR operators supported locally owned and operated businesses through purchases and referrals.
• Most STR operators (75%) catered primarily to families, followed by wellness travelers, public event attendees, and corporate travelers.
• 83% of government respondents reported their jurisdiction is facing an affordable housing shortage, citing the cost of building new housing, real estate values, and lack of space to build new housing as the top three factors having the biggest negative impact on their affordable housing supply.
• Across the various solutions that government officials have implemented to alleviate affordable housing issues, those that were deemed most effective focused on increasing the new housing supply in their jurisdictions: opening new space to build new housing (55.3%), supplementing the cost of, or otherwise incentivizing, building new housing (50.5%), and creating more favorable zoning policies (45.9%).
• A majority of government officials rank tourism as important to their local economies, and government officials rank guest spending as highly important to their jurisdiction, second only to property values.

Expanding on the inaugural 2022 study, the purpose of the 2024 research was to glean new insights that support strategic decision-making of both STR operators and local governments, from how to collaborate on effective community management programs to how to operate more responsible private accommodations.

“Over one million STR owners and managers and more than 30,000 municipalities in the US stand to benefit from the insights uncovered in this study,” said David Krauss, co-founder and CEO of Rent Responsibly. “This report shows there is ample opportunity for short-term rental owners and policymakers to engage on priorities that support local businesses, boost tourism, and respect community needs.”

Rent Responsibly partnered with the College of Charleston Office of Tourism Analysis on this research.

“This study allowed us to learn about a broad spectrum of local government communities and capture a diverse perspective of approaches,” said Brumby McLeod, Associate Professor and Riley Research Fellow at the Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management in the School of Business at the College of Charleston. “Particularly interesting to me were the views of staff, their work with short-term rentals, and the perceived effectiveness of their local ordinances. Rent Responsibly continues to get it right by listening to all stakeholders.”

Founded in 2019, Rent Responsibly is the community-building and education platform for short-term rental owners, hosts, and managers. Rent Responsibly’s mission is to empower short-term rental communities to collaborate and further responsible renting for the benefit of people, places, and planet. Learn more at RentResponsibly.org.