PhineasSwann
PhineasSwann t1_jdizds5 wrote
Julie Marks has done a great job of putting the "just little people renting out a room" narrative to fight regulations and investigation into the serious impact STRs have had over the past decade in taking LTR stock out of circulation. It's a shame there's no organization to refute her propaganda directly. The Vermont Lodging Association sometimes does, because they want STRs to follow the same rules/inspections/laws/guidelines that inns and real B&Bs do. But unfortunately, their viewpoint quickly gets tarred as "they just don't want the competition." (Full disclosure: I own a small B&B, but also list on AirBnB).
The STR survey Lamoille County did show that 60% of residents said they'd had a negative experience with an STR in their community. That was eye-opening.
It's a difficult subject. In our community, yes, most of the formerly-LTRs-converted-to-STRs service the local ski tourism economy. But unfortunately, if you want to work for that economy, there's no place here to live - you have to commute an hour or more to get here.
For those who keep trying to disconnect the cause-and-effect, just plot two charts: The decline in long-term rental stock 2013-2023, and the exponential growth of short-term rentals from 2013-23.
PhineasSwann t1_iyr6blh wrote
Montgomery, Vermont. The Covered Bridge Capital of the World!
PhineasSwann t1_iyaw77v wrote
Reply to First year in VT, where’s the snow? by magic_spaghetti
Thanks, Exxon/Mobil and BP.
PhineasSwann t1_iy1sv0x wrote
Reply to Why can't vermont tax Airnbn by Old_Ad_1301
Because the state legislators and the governor own AirBnBs themselves, and don't want them regulated or taxed. They've had bills to place AirBnBs on the same level of regulation & taxation as traditional B&Bs, inns & hotels, and every year they've killed or vetoed them.
They'll make noises this next session about trying to fix the housing crisis, but won't do anything to de-incentivize the conversion of long-term to short-term rentals.
PhineasSwann t1_iww8yly wrote
Vermont's ag department is actually pretty militant about policing the abuse of the term "Vermont" and "Maple." There was a case many years ago against Mcdonald's which tried to promote its oatmeal as having "maple flavor" when it didn't. As part of the settlement, anyone in Vermont who goes into a McDonald's can get real maple syrup to add to their oatmeal for free. http://archive.boston.com/business/articles/2011/01/20/vt_announces_maple_settlement_with_mcdonalds/
PhineasSwann t1_jdm101y wrote
Reply to A critique of Brave Little State's segment on Airbnbs by headgasketidiot
BTW, I think the 10,000 STR figure for Vermont is low. There's no way to know, because the state refuses to register them, so it has no clue how many actually exist.