I saw this yesterday. I think it is a knee jerk reaction to the house party issues that have been happening. These one night rentals on large homes for parties is bad for our industry.
Not every large home is for parties. Most are perfect for multi-generational family vacations.
More hosts need to review guests when they run into these types of issues with guests so others owners and managers are aware of these people who are renting homes to throw parties and charge entry at the door.
We also utilize stealth noise monitoring and wifi enabled devise detection to keep an eye out for over occupancy & noise issues like this. If there is an issue we want to know about it quickly before a neighbor or HOA manager has to reach out to complain. We also keep a contract with a local security company. On our highest peak weeks we give them a list of properties that are our larger homes that have the potential for issues and have them do evening drive through of those neighborhoods. They are also available should the overnight on-call team member need to respond to a noise or occupancy issue and not feel comfortable arriving alone, they can call security to meet them.
You can still put the occpancy in the description and let people know not to select more than 16. They can just send you a message with actual head count.
Speaking of the IPO. This seems like a bad time for them to have it.
I saw this yesterday. I think it is a knee jerk reaction to the house party issues that have been happening. These one night rentals on large homes for parties is bad for our industry.
Not every large home is for parties. Most are perfect for multi-generational family vacations.
More hosts need to review guests when they run into these types of issues with guests so others owners and managers are aware of these people who are renting homes to throw parties and charge entry at the door.
We also utilize stealth noise monitoring and wifi enabled devise detection to keep an eye out for over occupancy & noise issues like this. If there is an issue we want to know about it quickly before a neighbor or HOA manager has to reach out to complain. We also keep a contract with a local security company. On our highest peak weeks we give them a list of properties that are our larger homes that have the potential for issues and have them do evening drive through of those neighborhoods. They are also available should the overnight on-call team member need to respond to a noise or occupancy issue and not feel comfortable arriving alone, they can call security to meet them.
I don’t think that this “Occupancy and gatherings for reservations made on or after August 20 and until further notice are now capped at 16 people” will be helpful, however. In fact, the opposite.
1. Most people that book locally and throw parties do not accurately indicate the # of people who will attend. In fact, the opposite it usually true. They’ll put down a small # and exceed it. Also, if there’s a group of 17, 19 or 20 people -- they’ll just put down 16 and not give it another thought.
2. By capping the #, they actually make it more difficult for the hosts to pursue further claims against the party guests. Without a cap, a host can have an extra fee per person and can legitimately say that the guest indicated 12 people and had 24 people, so we want to file a claim for the extra people. With a cap, this becomes more hazy.
3. There are plenty of hosts that have properties that can accommodate over 16 people. So this policy just handcuffs them without actually solving any specific problem for them. That said, if I recall previously, there was already a cap of 16 people anyway when selecting the # of guests, no?
What the hosts need are better tools to monitor for local reservations and better ways to take action when rules are being broken.
I saw this yesterday. I think it is a knee jerk reaction to the house party issues that have been happening. These one night rentals on large homes for parties is bad for our industry.
Not every large home is for parties. Most are perfect for multi-generational family vacations.
More hosts need to review guests when they run into these types of issues with guests so others owners and managers are aware of these people who are renting homes to throw parties and charge entry at the door.
We also utilize stealth noise monitoring and wifi enabled devise detection to keep an eye out for over occupancy & noise issues like this. If there is an issue we want to know about it quickly before a neighbor or HOA manager has to reach out to complain. We also keep a contract with a local security company. On our highest peak weeks we give them a list of properties that are our larger homes that have the potential for issues and have them do evening drive through of those neighborhoods. They are also available should the overnight on-call team member need to respond to a noise or occupancy issue and not feel comfortable arriving alone, they can call security to meet them.
I do one better and get them kicked off the platform.
I like your security monitoring solution. What happens if they notice a house with a party? Do they go in and break it up? What does that cost per home?
@Anand S. Yes we do break it up and evict. The rental agreement the guest signs specifically mentions that we have a zero tollerance policy for parties, so we evict. These services are included with our full service property management at 18% here in Florida. Some of our other markets are at 23% due to increase operational costs due to permitting like in Nashville or Tahoe.
I don't have STR properties so I am unfamiliar with most of it. How do you evict a tenant the same evening? Are there specific laws that allow you to get somebody kicked out by the police? With long term tenants obviously you have to go to court and if you try and self help evict, it can cause the owner a world of trouble. How does it work if you say "Leave" and they say "NO" in the STR space?
I just have their electricity disconnected by removing the meter. If that's too bold of a thing to do, there is usually a master breaker in the outside meter box. Just flip it off and put a padlock on the hasp of the door.
@Mike Cumbie what the laws and regulations are will vary by location so it may not be the same in all states. For example in Alabama, short term rentals or vacation rentals are governed by the Real Estate Commission. Here in Florida, short term rentals are controlled by Chapter 509 of the Florida Statutes. At the end of the day, what you have in your rental agreement with guests is VERY important.
The best way to avoid conflict starts at the beginning. Always use a legal rental contract, take before and after photos and leave clear instructions of use. For example, if you want to ensure that a person 25 years or older is at the property every evening, make sure it’s in the rental contract. If you want a no party policy, make sure it's in the rental contract.
In the few instances where we had to evict, we just called the local Sheriff's department to assist. We were able to show a clear violation of the agreement.
@Marcello Di Gerlando We have our own proprietary technology through Turnkey. It's included at no cost to our full service management clients. We do also offer a scaled back service platform called GuestWorks. In addition, we do also have partnerships with smaller property management companies, real estate companies and developers to provide these services as well.