Hotel Lobbyists Want STRs Gone. City Budgets Disagree.

If short-term rentals were the neighborhood-destroying menace that hotel lobbyists and some city council members claim, you'd expect local governments to ban them. Some have. But the overwhelming majority haven't — and that tells you something the op-eds don't.

Across the US, nearly a thousand jurisdictions have gone through the messy, politically charged process of writing STR regulations. Not banning them. Building permit systems, setting tax rates, defining night caps, hiring enforcement staff. The kind of work a local government only does when it expects something to stick around — and when the revenue justifies the effort.

The question isn't whether STRs are controversial. They are. The question is what cities actually do when forced to make a decision. And the data on that is clear.

What Nearly 1,000 Jurisdictions Decided

We spent months building a regulations database covering 959 jurisdictions across 52 states and territories — from California's 124 regulated cities to Florida's 83, Michigan's 67, and Texas' 58. The goal was to give hosts plain-English answers about their local rules. But the aggregate picture tells its own story.

Here's how those jurisdictions actually approach STRs:

Seven out of ten jurisdictions chose to regulate STRs with moderate or permissive frameworks. Not ban them. Not ignore them. Build systems around them. That's not an accident — it's a policy decision backed by revenue data, employment numbers, and tourism economics that most op-ed writers never look up.

Follow the Money

Let's talk about the number that makes city finance directors pay attention.

Airbnb alone has generated over $13.5 billion in tourism taxes for communities worldwide. In the US, Airbnb travel generated $90 billion in economic activity in 2024 — supporting over 820,000 jobs according to a Charles River Associates analysis commissioned by Airbnb.

Those are platform-wide numbers. What does it look like at the city level?

In Los Angeles, STR hosts generated $293 million in transient occupancy tax revenue from August 2016 to December 2023. That's money that funds roads, parks, public safety, and transit — collected from visitors who were coming to LA regardless of whether they stayed in a hotel or an Airbnb.

This isn't unique to LA. Across our database, TOT rates range from 6% in Nashville to 18% in Steamboat Springs to 20.9% in Crested Butte, Colorado. Cities aren't collecting these taxes reluctantly — they're building budgets around them.

Places that impose taxes on STR lodging are more likely to be supportive of STRs and their income stream, as the community depends on them for public amenities.

— Richard Fertig, Richard Fertig

That's the reality most anti-STR arguments skip over. When a city collects 14% TOT on every short-term rental booking, that city has a financial interest in STRs succeeding. The money goes to the same places hotel taxes go — but from properties that would otherwise generate zero tourism revenue.

Tourism Where Hotels Aren't

Here's the argument that STR critics consistently fail to address: what happens in the 100,000+ towns across America that don't have a single hotel?

The European Commission's 2024 research on rural tourism found the same pattern globally — short-term rentals create tourism economies in places where traditional hospitality infrastructure doesn't exist. A treehouse in the Smoky Mountains, a cabin outside Joshua Tree, a converted barn in Vermont — these aren't taking guests away from hotels. There are no hotels.

Make sure you're building in an area where you can build what you want, by confirming you're outside of restrictive zoning regulations and can get the necessary permits.

— Kai Andrew, Kai Andrew

The majority of US Airbnb listings are outside major metro areas. In our database, Michigan alone has 67 regulated jurisdictions — not because of Detroit and Ann Arbor, but because of Traverse City, Mackinaw City, Saugatuck, and dozens of lakefront communities whose local economies depend on seasonal tourism that STRs make possible.

When critics cite the Economic Policy Institute's argument that 96-98% of Airbnb guests would have used hotels anyway, they're looking at data from major cities where that might be true. But that math breaks down completely in rural markets. You can't substitute a hotel that doesn't exist.

The Local Job Multiplier

Every short-term rental creates a micro supply chain. And unlike a hotel that might bus in corporate staff from a regional management company, STR operations are almost entirely local.

Think about what a single listing requires: a cleaning team, a handyman, a landscaper, a plumber on call, a locksmith, someone to handle pest control, a laundry service. Multiply that across hundreds of listings in a small market, and you've got a local employment engine that didn't exist before.

Assemble a reliable dream team, including a cleaner, handyman, pest control, contractor, pool service, and lawn service.

— Robuilt, Robuilt

That "dream team" Robuilt describes? Every member is a local small business or independent contractor. When Airbnb's 2024 economic impact report counts 820,000+ supported US jobs, it's counting these people — the cleaner who runs a turnover business, the handyman who gets steady work from five hosts in the same neighborhood.

If only having one or two properties, team up with a neighbor to share the costs and resources of a cleaner for more competitive rates.

— Sean Rakidzich, Sean Rakidzich

That's the pattern across small STR markets: hosts pooling resources, cleaners building businesses around multiple clients, handymen getting consistent work. It's not corporate employment — it's the small-business backbone of communities that don't have a lot of other options.

The Housing Elephant in the Room

Let's address it directly, because pretending this argument doesn't exist would undermine everything else.

The concern is real: if investors buy up housing stock to run full-time STRs, it can tighten local rental supply and push up rents. That's not hypothetical — it's happened in specific neighborhoods in specific cities.

But here's what the best available research actually shows. The Congressional Research Service — not a think tank, not an industry-funded study, but the nonpartisan research arm of Congress — found a 0.018% rent increase for every 1% growth in STR listings. That's not zero. It's also not the housing apocalypse that some city councils have used to justify outright bans.

And cities have tools to manage this. The most common? Primary residence requirements and night caps.

In our database, cities like Los Angeles (120-night cap), San Francisco (90 nights), Portland, OR (95 nights), and Berkeley (90 nights) all require hosts to live in the property and cap how many nights per year it can be rented short-term. This structurally prevents investor-owned STR portfolios from displacing long-term housing.

New York City's approach — removing over 90% of its listings through Local Law 18 — is the most extreme example of the other direction. And the results? According to HR&A Advisors' March 2025 analysis, the residential vacancy rate after the crackdown remained unchanged at 1.9%. The Chamber of Progress found the same thing: crushing STRs didn't solve the housing crunch. In a city where the cost of living is more than 72% higher than the national average, the housing problem has deeper structural causes than spare bedrooms on Airbnb.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

NYC isn't the only cautionary tale. When cities overcorrect, the consequences go beyond lost tax revenue.

Outer-borough neighborhoods in New York that depended on STR income — hosts in Queens and the Bronx who rented spare rooms to make rent — lost a lifeline. Tourism spending that used to spread across the city concentrated back into Manhattan hotels. The distributed economic benefit that STRs uniquely provide — money flowing to neighborhoods that hotels don't serve — evaporated.

The Reason Foundation's analysis put it plainly: blaming short-term rentals won't solve the housing crisis. The factors driving housing costs — restrictive zoning, underbuilding, population growth in desirable metros — dwarf the marginal impact of STRs.

Meanwhile, cities that built balanced frameworks are collecting revenue, supporting jobs, and maintaining housing supply. Not through inaction — through smart regulation.

Regulatory risk is very real and should be carefully considered before investing in short-term rentals. The absence of a law does not necessarily make STRs lawful.

— Richard Fertig, Richard Fertig

The Balanced Path

So what does smart STR regulation actually look like? Across 959 jurisdictions, patterns emerge.

The most effective frameworks share three elements: a permit or registration system (so the city knows who's operating), a transient occupancy tax (so the community benefits financially), and reasonable limits (so housing stock is protected without killing the economic benefits).

That's exactly what the US Conference of Mayors' 2023 best practices guide recommended. Not bans. Not deregulation. Structured frameworks that let cities capture the upside while managing the risks.

The data from our database backs this up. The 450 jurisdictions using moderate regulation — permits, taxes, some limits — represent the center of gravity. These cities said: "STRs are here, they generate revenue, they create jobs, they serve tourists. Let's build a system that works for everyone."

What This Means for You

If you're a host or thinking about becoming one, here's the honest take.

The anti-STR narrative isn't going away. Hotel lobbies fund it. Some city councils amplify it. And there are real, legitimate concerns about housing that you should take seriously — not dismiss.

But the data tells a different story than the headlines. Nearly a thousand jurisdictions have concluded that short-term rentals generate enough tax revenue, create enough jobs, support enough local businesses, and serve enough travelers to justify building permanent regulatory systems around them.

Your job as a host is to operate within that system. Get your permits. Pay your taxes. Follow the night caps. Be the host that makes your city's STR-friendly policy look like the right call.

To maintain a reputation for cleanliness, cleaning service is arguably the most important aspect of your short-term rental business.

— Robuilt, Robuilt

That advice from Robuilt isn't just about guest satisfaction. When your property is clean, quiet, and professionally managed, your neighbors don't complain to city council. When neighbors don't complain, city councils don't tighten regulations. When regulations stay reasonable, your business stays viable.

Every well-run listing makes the case for STRs better than any lobbyist or study ever could.

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