May 2022 Newsletter

Updated on December 21, 2022

“If there’s one essential ingredient to creating trails and trail systems, it’s people. All the land and financing in the world won’t blaze a trail if there aren’t people championing the project.“
– Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, In Support of Trails: A Guide to Successful Trail Advocacy, 1993

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The figurative form of the term trailblazing has lost its way in our vernacular. We often think of trailblazing as synonymous with intrepid, pioneering, disruptive – all of which are accurate, but incomplete.

A trailblazer is one who blazes a trail through wild country for others to follow. It’s not forging a new path for self-glory or a new path’s sake, but to create a map for others who may follow in one’s footsteps by plotting blazes, or trail markers, to help them stay on course and avoid danger.

So much of what we do at Rent Responsibly, with and alongside local alliances, is wayfinding through “wild country.” In our case, that’s often the rocky terrain of local lawmaking conversations and the blue-sky expanse of community building. 

Across the country, team RR and hundreds of local alliance and advocacy leaders are intrepidly exploring new territory and marking new paths as we learn: those to avoid (Danger: Political Quicksand!), those to tread with caution (Watch Your Step: Good Neighbor Trip Hazards), and those now more smoothly trodden (Member Event Trailhead This Way). 

I’d argue our industry has a higher concentration of trailblazers than most others – it’s almost a prerequisite. This newsletter celebrates many of them, like the leaders of the Scottsdale STRA, the Summit Alliance of Vacation Rental Managers, and the San Diego STRA who are all hard at work setting their organizations’ next blazes in new member events this month. Our friends at Futurestay and HostGPO have mapped out the building blocks of a great STR business and the essentials of the perfect rental setup, respectively. 

In content, we take a look back at trailblazers in (recent) history: the stakeholders who created the NC Vacation Rental Act who, in doing so, not only charted model legislation but also pioneered one of the best ways to trailblaze in this territory. And don’t miss our shout-outs section for trail-side high-fives of explorers we’re honored to follow.

This month, our trail marker resembles a pause button.

We’re looking back at the year to date and the things we’ve learned so far in order to plot new blazes for others to follow. (I’m also pausing for snacks, tbh.) 

And we hope you’ll join us! What have you learned so far this year that others might benefit from? Join our private Facebook group to share your blazes, scenic overlooks, wrong turns, and all. 

Because trailblazing is best done together.

Happy wayfinding!

Alexa Nota
COO & Co-founder

HOT OFF THE PRESS

• How 1999’s NC Vacation Rental Act is a Model for Today’s Regulations
• Chargebacks 101: Win Back Guests’ Disputed Charges
• Quick and Easy Ways to Optimize Your Short-Term Rental Listings
• Honolulu City Council Bans Stays Under 90 Days Across Oahu

+ SHOUT-OUTS

🎉 Julie Marks and Sybille Kim of the VTSTRA for hosting Vermont’s biggest STR conference and trade show June 2-3

🎉 All those nominated for Shortyz awards! Extra high fives to: Breezeway + Jeremiah Gall, NoiseAware,  Autohost, OwnerRez, Futurestay + Philip Kennard, Robin and Heather Craigen at Moving Mountains, ASTRHO, AvantStay, Touch Stay, Wheelhouse, and Operto!

🎉 Kelly Hill for launching the Valley County STR Alliance in Idaho

🎉 Ricky Cortez, Anthony Rallo, and Maria Tirado-Quiñones for heading up a virtual town hall jam-packed with insight about the upcoming STR ordinance for Tobyhanna, PA

🎉 Jeff MacGurn, Pedro Tavares, Donna McLoughlin and Paul Becker from the San Diego STRA board for hosting a powerful virtual town hall last month

🎉 Emily Vandall with Ascent Payment Solutions for bringing levity to a tough topic about chargebacks

🎉 Dan Merritts of the Steamboat Springs CPA for an incredible testimony at the city’s April Planning Commission meeting, which can be viewed here. 

🎉 VRMA for putting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the importance of advocacy on the main stage in general sessions. Extra high fives to Mateo Bradford, John Stokinger, Anthony Gantt, Jonathan Fonvielle, Michelle Williams, Resha Shroff, Lorraine Woodward, and Robert Geller for leading another powerful panel and collaborative discussion on DEI.

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