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Key Issue: Short-term Rentals

9/30/2019

 
ORLA Advocacy:
​Leveling the Field on Short-term Rentals


Short-term rental companies like Airbnb claim they simply help regular folks occasionally rent out a spare room in their home to make some extra money. A growing body of research reveals a significant – and rapidly growing – portion of Airbnb’s revenue in major U.S. cities, including Portland, is driven by commercial operators who rent out more than one residential property to short-term visitors, essentially operating just like a hotel. Closing this 'illegal hotel loophole" is the only way for state and local governments to protect communities and ensure a fair and competitive travel marketplace. 

ORLA is engaged in several discussions with cities and counties across the state addressing short-term rental issues. In February 2018, Portland settled a longstanding lawsuit with the vacation rental website HomeAway and its affiliates over unpaid lodging taxes. The settlement requires HomeAway to begin collecting city and county lodging taxes on behalf of its Portland customers, and will allow customers to register for a short-term rental permit online. Read more. Update: As of September 2019, the City of Portland and Airbnb have reached an agreement to share data on rentals to allow the City to enforce its permitting requirements. A ruling earlier in 2019 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the City of Santa Monica’s short-term rental ordinance against a challenge by Airbnb, leaving the door open for other municipalities to adopt similar ordinances. This new agreement between Airbnb and the City of Portland is expected to reduce the number of unpermitted rentals. 

Key Findings
CBRE Hotels’ Americas Research released a new analysis, Hosts with Multiple Units – A Key Driver of Airbnb Growth, which adds to the overwhelming weight of evidence showing that short-term rental companies, specifically Airbnb, are providing a platform for commercial operators to run illegitimate, unregulated and often illegal hotels in communities across the country.

Some of the data revealed in the study showed:  
  • In the U.S., hosts renting out two or more entire-home units generated nearly $2 billion in revenue in 2016. In the 13 markets highlighted, revenue reached $700 million.
  • 81% of Airbnb’s U.S. revenue – $4.6 billion – comes from whole-unit rentals (those rentals where the owner is not present during the time of the rental), rising from 78% in the prior year. 
  • Each of the 13 cities studied saw an increase in the total number of listings by multi-unit hosts. 
  • In almost every market examined in the report, the percentage of revenue from multi-unit hosts increased from 2015 to 2016.
  • Revenue growth for entire-home properties increased by an average of 76% in the 13 markets studied. 

Another report, Airbnb Agreements with State and Local Tax Agencies, reveals how Airbnb agreements create risks of reduced compliance with lodging tax laws, with state and local tax laws more generally, and with local land use, housing and building safety laws.

Both reports, along with additional research, are available to ORLA members in the Resource Library of the Member Portal (log in required):
  • Hosts with Multiple Units – A Key Driver of Airbnb Growth
  • Airbnb Agreements with State and Local Tax Agencies

Establishing Oregon’s Compliance Framework
Oregon should pass legislation that requires short-term home rental properties to register with their local taxing authority before they are marketed through online exchange sites. Additionally, for jurisdictions that have a business licensing program in place, operators should secure the proper licenses. While state law needs to acknowledge that some smaller municipalities do not have the resources to carry out inspections for consumer protection, the law can define when and where such inspections are appropriate.

During the business registration process, operators should also show that they have notified their insurance carrier and lending institution that a commercial transaction is occurring on the premises. In areas where there aren’t enough local resources to monitor safeguards, insurance carriers will most likely require coverage for protection and liability – beyond a customary homeowner policy. And finally, operators should report and remit their room tax collections.

Short-term Rental Tools and Information
As part of the ongoing effort to fight back against Airbnb’s litigation threats against cities and states that pursue short-term rental regulations, Santa-Monica based law-firm Zacks Freedman & Patterson has released fact sheets on their website summarizing the legal rebuttal arguments made in the recent op-ed in Law360 (attached) by managing shareholder Andrew Zacks entitled, “The Law Will Not Help Airbnb Evade Rental Ordinances.”

Related Short-term Rental News
Albany moves to include Airbnb in transient lodging tax
Josephine County Ballot measure asks lodging tax advisory question  
Most Airbnbs in Salem are unlicensed nearly two years after the city approved licensing rules
Portland, vacation rental site HomeAway settle dispute over lodging taxes
Reining-in Illegal Hotels 
Airbnb has secret tax deals around the nation
Airbnb brings change to vacation-rental marketplace

Portland
> ORLA's Position Statement on Short-Term Rentals

Reining in “Illegal Hotels” 
Across Oregon there is growing concern that some home sharing platforms are enabling the proliferation of “illegal hotels,” where commercial operators list multiple units in the same region of the state or list units for extended periods of time without consideration for both local and state law. This unregulated commercial activity often compromises consumer safety, impacts affordable housing supply across Oregon and endangers the character and security of residential neighborhoods. 

Member Insights...

9/26/2019

 
THE CUSTOMER ISN’T ALWAYS RIGHT, BUT THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS THE CUSTOMER
Make sure you understand the value of responding to your reviews!
 
Let’s discuss something a little controversial: online reviews and how to respond to them. TripAdvisor reviews. Facebook reviews. Google My Business reviews.
 
How about Yelp reviews? There, I said it. Is your heart racing all of a sudden? Blood pressure up? Face red? Good. Now settle down and take a breath. We’re going to get through this together. We’ll focus on Yelp, but what I’m going to say translates to all review sites.
  
Some statistics
Between 65 and 90 percent of consumers, depending on which study you read, are influenced by online reviews. For Yelp alone, as of March 2016, there are an average of 164 million unique visitors per month (62 million desktop computer visitors, 69 million mobile web users, and 33 million app users.) 72 percent of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a business more, and 90 percent say positive reviews directly influence their buying decisions. And guess what – people are more likely to share a negative experience than a positive one. Common sense? Of course. Okay, enough statistics. So, what does all that tell us?
 
It tells us that the opposite is also true. Negative reviews influence people. It also tells us that your customers probably use Yelp. You probably even use Yelp yourself to find a restaurant, or a new barber, or any number of businesses you need to look up. I’m sure you take a peek at your own reviews once in a while, and hopefully respond to them.
 
Can you afford to risk 65 to 90 percent of your potential customers reading your negative reviews and you pretending they don’t exist?
 
Restaurants and hotels
Sometimes your food can fall short of expectations, or maybe the server or kitchen got it wrong. Maybe your front desk wasn’t as helpful as it could have been. Sometimes an employee can be perceived as rude or dismissive.
 
I know, your employees would never be rude or dismissive. But two things:
  • Perception is reality for customers.
  • Your employees absolutely can be rude or dismissive. It happens.
 
Like the title says, the customer isn’t always right. Perception is reality. And they are always the customer. You want to keep their business, right? Get referrals? Sell more rooms or get more butts in your seats? You need to fix your negative reviews. Here is our “best practice” strategy:
 
How to handle negative reviews (the “recovery”)
  • Respond as quickly as possible. It’s best to respond within three hours of a posted review. But certainly, strive for less than 24.
  • Respond publicly. First, apologize! Be humble. Show the public that you care about your reviews, that you welcome the feedback, and that you want to fix any problems. Keep it cordial, professional, non-argumentative. If the review is particularly egregious, you can sometimes mention one or two facts to set the record straight. But this is delicate! Avoid being too matter-of-fact or passive-aggressive. Don’t get into a pissing match and avoid make the customer even angrier. Tread lightly here. I know, it’s tough to back down when a bad review is posted, especially an unfair one.
  • Get the guest to communicate offline with you. Ask them to send you an email, call you, stop by in person; definitely send them a follow-up private Yelp message. But make every effort to keep the conversation going.
  • Offer some kind of incentive for your customer to come back. Maybe a free dessert, pizza, a room upgrade, a gift card, anything! Compensate them somehow for the inconvenience. Do this privately, not publicly.
  • Ask them to speak to you personally next time they come in. Do a meet and greet and roll the red carpet out for them. Make sure their return visit is as close to perfect as it can be. Tell then you want them to have a 5-star experience. Yes, it’s a little subconscious trick but often helps.
  • Bonus Tip: Yelp allows you to flag reviews. Sometimes a review will be taken down by Yelp if you can make a good case that it doesn’t represent a personal consumer experience, or perhaps it was written by a current/ex-employee or a competitor. Example: “My friend came here and he said it sucked so I don’t plan on going,” or “I used to work here and the GM was a jerk,” or “I work at the restaurant across the street and I agree with the last guy: the GM is a jerk.” You can’t flag a review for “factual disputes,” they don’t care. That’s what the public comments are for.
  • Bonus Tip #2: Yelp sometimes “hides” reviews. They use a secret algorithm that helps to detect fake reviews. It’s even more secret than the recipe for Classic Coke. Some negative reviews will be hidden (this used to be called “filtered” – now they call it “reviews that are not recommended.”) Some positive reviews will also be hidden – a good reason not to ask for positive reviews, besides being against Yelp’s terms of service. These hidden reviews don’t factor into your score. But you should still respond to them.
 
We’ve seen two important outcomes from our partners who follow the above. First, often the customer will update their review and add additional stars. Awesome! Second, customers who have been recovered using these techniques often become extremely loyal fans of the business, sometimes even more so than if they had a good experience to start with. Super awesome! Going the extra mile and showing the attention makes a big difference.
 
A recent study showed that a one-star increase in a business’ Yelp score translates into substantial revenue increases. You may not like Yelp, but you can’t afford to ignore it. So, go win back a customer! | Jay Skowron, Hospitality Defender

Jay Skowron is the Founder and Principal of Hospitality Defender, specializing in social media marketing, online review management, websites, and process consulting. He can be reached at [email protected].

Any views or opinions presented in this blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association.

Industry Launches New Oregon Leadership Program for Tourism Professionals

9/12/2019

 
OTLA
ORLA proudly announces the launch of the Oregon Tourism Leadership Academy (OTLA), developed in partnership with the Oregon Destination Association and Travel Oregon, and led by the industry’s top experts. The new annual experiential learning program is targeted to public and private sector tourism professionals who are seeking to polish their leadership and professional skills, continue to grow their career accomplishments, and make positive and lasting contributions to the state’s tourism economy and its success. 

“We believe we are embarking on a leadership experience which will prove to be transformative for program participants,” said Jason Brandt, President & CEO for the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association. “The academy will bring lasting personal and professional benefits to those who participate.” 

Curriculum, field visits, and hands-on experiences are strategically designed to support and align with the state’s tourism goals and objectives which include four Strategic Imperatives:
  1. Optimizing the Statewide Economic Impact of Tourism in Oregon
  2. Supporting and Empowering Oregon’s Tourism Industry
  3. Championing the Value of Tourism
  4. Running Effective Tourism Oriented Organizations and Businesses

The OTLA experience is designed for professionals currently serving Oregon’s tourism and hospitality industries. Interested program participants should have supervisory, managerial, or executive responsibilities in either the private or public sector. Applications from industry professionals who will soon be responsible for similar levels of responsibility are also encouraged to apply for the academy program.
 
The strategic imperatives outlined above will serve as the program’s core themes each year. Each theme will receive focus as a part of four multi-day experiential learning programs designed to provide academy participants with comprehensive educational experiences. Each year, 20 academy participants will immerse themselves in the academy’s professional development curriculum alongside industry experts and facilitators.

For more information on the Oregon Tourism Leadership Academy, visit www.Oregonrla.org/OTLA.

Hotel Partners Program Supports Cancer Patients

9/8/2019

 
Hotel Partners photoAlex Dawes (second from left) and Embassy Suites staff pictured with Kelli Azar from KATU (right) at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer kick off event at The Embassy Suites by Hilton Portland Downtown.
​If you’re a cancer patient and your doctor says, “Your best hope for a cure is in another city,” your first thought may be, “Where am I going to stay and how am I going to pay for it?” 
 
The American Cancer Society can help. The Society works together with hotels through its Hotel Partners Program to provide complimentary rooms to cancer patients who need to travel out of town to receive treatment. In 2018, more than 211 patients were served through the Hotel Partners Program with nearly 921 nights through participating hotels in Oregon. Though we have great support from numerous partners, last year approximately 247 requests went unmet in the Oregon area - which is why the Society is seeking hotel partners throughout Oregon to help fill the need for free lodging for cancer patients. 
 
The American Cancer Society is proud to partner with and recognize the following Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association Members:
  • The Duniway, Portland
  • Embassy Suites by Hilton Downtown Portland
  • Embassy Suites by Hilton Washington Square-Portland-Tigard
  • La Quinta Inn & Suites, Eugene
  • The Mark Spencer, Portland
  • Portland Marriott City Center
 
Hotels that partner with the American Cancer Society show a commitment to their communities and to patients struggling with cancer. They can be proud that their hotels are taking an active role in the fight against cancer. “I learned firsthand how difficult it can be on cancer patients that need to travel for treatments when my best friend in Bend, Oregon was diagnosed with cancer several years ago. Being in the hotel business I was able to offer complimentary accommodations when he visited OHSU. My thoughts quickly went to those that do not have a connection or friend in the hotel business, what do they do? When I learned that the American Cancer Society offered a program to assist those patients, the Duniway was eager to partner.” - Ryan Kunzer (GM, The Duniway)

“Defeating Cancer is a global challenge, fought locally. Along with many hotel partners here in Portland, we are honored to support the families of patients as they go through what must be one of the most stressful times of their lives.” - Alex Dawes (GM, Embassy Suites Downtown Portland). Dawes, Embassy Suites in Downtown Portland, General Manager, is also demonstrating his commitment to the fight against cancer by participating in the 2019 Real Men Wear Pink campaign. “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and the Real Men Wear Pink campaigns are all about ensuring ongoing awareness and having some fun at the same time.”

The American Cancer Society is seeking additional hotel partners for the program. If you are interested in partnering to provide complimentary rooms for cancer patients or have an executive interested in participating in the Real Men Wear Pink campaign, please contact Courtney Clark at [email protected] or 503.795.3971.
​
For information about American Cancer Society programs and services, including lodging, please visit Cancer.org or call 1-800-227-2345.

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