rocky 02/20/2020
Have you heard the great news?! This is going to be a big step for the STR industry!
20 of the most influential veteran entrepreneurs, advocates, policy experts, and community leaders have united to democratize drive for fair regulations by creating the Vacation Rental Advocacy Playbook!
“We win together,” said Philip Minardi, head of Public Affairs at Expedia Group. “This playbook, and the collaboration that built it, are proof that when platforms, managers, owners, and our community of allies work together, we can effectively position our industry for long-term success. With the publication of this playbook, it has never been easier to raise your hand and join the conversation happening in your community.”
The Importance Of Advocacy Groups In The STR Industry
Have you ever seen that one person who decides to take all of the candy from the bowl left at someone’s front door on Halloween? It sucks right! They ruin trick or treating for everyone after them; worst of all, everyone else misses out on their favorite candy! That’s exactly how it is with irresponsible hosts. One wrong move on their side can be a massive threat to the whole short term rental industry. “When you begin to think about the future of the industry one, three, five years into the future, advocacy quickly emerges as the biggest risk factor: irresponsible hosts are the biggest threat to our collective survival,” said Matt Landau.
Here at NoiseAware, we strong supporters of responsible hosting. Every professional short-term rental operator knows that these horror stories about STRs on the don’t accurately reflect what goes on in the industry. But it’s on us to prove that. By hosting responsibly, we can change the stigma and build relationships with our neighbors and our community. Responsible hosting is all about being proactive in your operations as opposed to reactive. It means doing everything in your power to safeguard your properties, business, and, more importantly, your community. So let’s face this challenge together!
Strong alliances are critical to any great challenge. When it comes to short term rental advocacy, finding other stakeholders, getting buy-in, and partnering with the right people and groups can make all the difference. But how does that work?! The answer is: The Vacation Rental Advocacy Playbook! It’s the beginning of the future for short term rental advocacy. These are the people who are going to continue to inspire us to stand up as an industry and improve our short term rental regulations for the country as a whole. We are more than excited to cheer on and support them in their initiative since this is going to take a lot of hard work.
When we spoke with Matt, he stated: “One big thing I have learned from all these advocacy experts is the power of affirmative communications – rooting for something universally good (not against something that others could perceive as bad). With the topic of regulation, sides tend to form, and you get people who are fiercely for (or against) short term rentals. But the experts showed me how to use inarguable messaging: wording and efforts for fair and responsible regulation, which all stakeholders in a community can get behind. That’s a powerful thing!”
What else is powerful are the 20 of the leading industry experts deciding to be the driving force for advocacy around the country with The Vacation Rental Advocacy Playbook. We couldn’t be more excited! “As a community of short-term rental stakeholders, we have decided to no longer let our fate be decided for us,” Krauss added. “The time to unify our efforts and our message is now. This playbook is the embodiment of that change, and we hope it is shared widely.”
What Is The Vacation Rental Advocacy Playbook?
The STR Advocacy Playbook is a FREE collection of videos and documents to help local short-term rental groups create fair regulations in their communities. Their advice is designed to empower all vacation rental stakeholders in our journey towards fair and sustainable regulation. Industry advocate Matt Landau of VRMB curates the project. How awesome is that?! The Playbook is divided into five main categories: legislation, money, stakeholders, data, and public relations. Get guided through the process of finding strong alliances, the usage of strong data to defend your claims, the importance of branding, PR, and messaging, tips on how you can get a seat at the table to interact with council members, and the broader implications of statewide bills and so much more!
While this initiative can’t stop legislative changes from happening, the playbook will help short term rental owners, managers, and advocacy groups are better equipped in advocating for themselves when threats arise (Megan McCrea, President of the Nashville Area STR Association). It has never been easier to raise your hand and join the conversation happening in your community. What are you waiting for?! Time to get started!
“Historically, advocating for short-term rentals has been an uphill battle with each local group fighting their local fight, often without much success,” said David Krauss, founder of Rent Responsibly. “This playbook serves as a line in the sand, signifying that we are pooling our lessons learned and uniting our voices.”
Who Are The Supporters?
The STR Advocacy Playbook project was made possible by industry advocate Matt Landau of VRMB with the support of Expedia Group, AirDNA, Avalara MyLodge Tax, and Rent Responsibly as well as 20 of North America’s leading advocacy experts.
AirDNA
AirDNA is the world’s leading provider of short-term rental data and analytics. By analyzing the daily booking activity of 10,000,000 listings across Airbnb and Vrbo, AirDNA empowers entrepreneurship in alternative accommodations. With over 10,000 subscribers, MarketMinder is the premier analytics software for vacation rental operators looking to benchmark their performance, optimize their nightly rates, and research new investment opportunities.
Avalara MyLodge
Tax Avalara MyLodgeTax was founded by vacation rental owners to offer a very simple and affordable lodging tax compliance solution for other homeowners and hosts. Their mission is to handle all the forms, registrations, filings, and tax payments for our customers so they can focus on the real reasons they got into the business. While helping homeowners is where they started, their solution has grown to serve property managers, hotel operators, corporate housing providers, travel companies, and many other businesses that must collect and remit lodging tax. In the 17+ years since their founding, they’ve helped thousands of homeowners, hosts, and businesses manage their lodging tax returns.
Expedia Group
Expedia Group is the world’s travel platform. They help knock down the barriers to travel, making it easier, more enjoyable, more attainable, and more accessible. They are here to bring the world within reach for customers and partners around the globe. They leverage our platform and technology capabilities across an extensive portfolio of businesses and brands to orchestrate the movement of people and the delivery of travel experiences on both a local and global basis. Their family of travel brands includes: Brand Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, Egencia®, trivago®, HomeAway®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, Expedia Local Expert®, CarRentals.com™, Expedia® CruiseShipCenters®, Classic Vacations®, Traveldoo®, VacationRentals.com, and SilverRail™. Expedia Group believes in responsibly engaging in the regulatory conversations impacting its community of partners, customers, and industry. Fair and effective policies built upon compromise and data have proven to be the best avenues for long-term success for cities and states. The Expedia Group welcomes the chance to be a partner in finding those important solutions.
Rent Responsibly
Rent Responsibly is a mission-driven community of short-term rental stakeholders who believe that engagement in local advocacy efforts is critical to building a sustainable future. Through efforts to advocate, celebrate, and educate their community and the outside public, Rent Responsibly enables fellow short-term rental stakeholders to collaborate more effectively. Responsible renters can visit rentresponsibly.org to download free resources and to join the community.
VRMB
VRMB (aka. Vacation Rental Marketing Blog) is a free resource designed to help vacation rental owners generate more bookings and create freedom in their lifestyles, documenting the industry’s best practices in order to close the learning gap between newcomers and the biggest brands in vacation rentals. VRMB now averages 20,000 motivated visitors per month, and the Inner Circle (the private community that financially supports the free blog) has grown to nearly 800 members.
NoiseAware’s 20/20 Program
NoiseAware is big on supporting advocacy groups around the country, so we want to help make a difference this year. We are going to be launching our 20/20 Community Impact program that will give back to advocacy groups for making sure hosts are responsible operators. You won’t want to miss out on supporting your local communities and protecting your property! If you want to get involved, contact marketing@noiseaware.io.