The Ultimate Guide:
Building a Self-Sustainable Short-Term Rental Alliance
This guidebook will be your best friend as you begin your own journey down the path of short-term rental advocacy. This resource is chock-full of tips, best practices and nuggets of wisdom we wish we had when we were beginning our own advocacy journey!
Rent Responsibly was created, and still stands today, on 3 basic pillars. We collaborate, we educate, and we celebrate short-term rental operators everywhere. Our passion and purpose is dedicated to delivering advocacy-in-a-box solutions for anyone wishing to get their own short-term rental advocacy efforts off the ground.
In this guidebook, you will find advocacy guideposts and milestones laid out to assist you in forming your own short-term rental alliance, beginning to end. We cover the basics in alliance creation, branding, developing a leadership committee, recruiting members, getting involved at a city level and how to maintain a sustainable organization in the future. Advocacy is bigger than a finish line or end goal. It’s about creating a sustainable ecosystem for STR stakeholders in your community.
Advocacy through community is the most rewarding, most important thing you can do. We hope this guidebook assists you in forming a solid, mobilized and passionate community of short-term rental operators. We are here to cheer you on every step of the way. Enjoy the ride!
– Team Rent Responsibly
Photo courtesy Camylla Battani
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Getting Started
The Foundation and Tech Tools to Make Your Vision a Reality
Chapter 2: Getting Together
Recruiting Members, Building a Leadership Team, and Creating Partnerships
Chapter 3: Getting Out There
Knowing Your Decision-Makers and How to Make Sure They Hear You
Chapter 4: Getting Together
Building Community & Keeping Members Engaged for the Long Term
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
– Margaret Mead
Photo courtesy Diego PH
Introduction: The 5 Ws of Advocacy
What is Advocacy?
First and foremost, advocacy is rooted in creating a community. From there, it is all about generating ways in which you can influence and contribute at a local level. At Rent Responsibly, our definition of advocacy is based on 3 pillars, and these pillars can assist you as well. They are: Educate • Collaborate • Celebrate.
As you begin your own STR advocacy journey, these pillars intertwine to support you and the challenges you may encounter. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed or feel defeated, use these pillars as a lighthouse to get you back to stable waters. Spearheading education efforts in your community, collaborating with other STR stakeholders, and celebrating what makes STRs so special is a no-fail proven method to help others in your community understand the value of STRs.
Who is an Advocate for STRs?
Advocates for short-term rentals are more than just hosts, owners and managers. As you are building your alliance, it’s important you don’t overlook the businesses and stakeholders who rely on the value STRs rentals bring to your community. They too deserve and need a seat at the table. Your Leadership Committee and alliance should be a vibrant mix of passionate STR stakeholders who can get people mobilized and organized!
When Does Advocacy Happen?
Advocacy happens every day, at any given moment, and it’s important for you to begin to actively search for ways you can advocate in everyday life. There are standard and basic guardrails for advocacy opportunities such as City Council meetings and neighborhood events, but oftentimes your windows of opportunity are creative and organic! This is why a solid Leadership Committee is imperative for your advocacy efforts. Bringing people together from different environments helps you think outside the box.
Where Does Advocacy Happen?
Advocacy doesn’t just happen at organized events or in front of your local leaders. Advocacy happens everywhere! It can happen in passing conversations, City Hall, online, in the press, or at networking events. In this Guidebook, we will teach you ways to identify all of the places where advocacy can happen, and we encourage you to start thinking of local places in your own community where your voice can stand out!
Why is Advocacy Important?
There is no advocacy without a community, and there is no community without advocacy. Both are intertwined and need to be nurtured as you move forward with your efforts. Sometimes advocacy can be tough, but if no one stood up and raised their hand, the voice of you and other STR stakeholders would cease to exist. By being a leader for short-term rentals, you are not only protecting and securing your own future, you are preserving the future of your entire STR community.
Chapter 1: Getting Started
The Foundation and Tech Tools You Need to Make Your Vision a Reality
Your brand is the foundation of building trust in your community. It enables you to present your group as a cohesive, unified, and mature organization; speak as a reputable STR subject matter expert; and make your members feel like part of a team. Creating the right brand in both your name and visual style isn’t just to place a logo on a website. In other words, a bad brand can act like a drag on your advocacy and organizing efforts, while a good brand can act as a sail.
Picking the Right Name
- Be specific: Choose descriptive words that sum up exactly who you are and what the group does so someone hearing or seeing your name for the first time “gets it” right away. [Town] Short-Term Rental Alliance is a common naming convention.
- … but not too specific: Don’t choose words so narrow that there’s no room to expand what you do or worse, make people feel alienated or excluded. For example, avoid Townville Property Managers Alliance if you want the group to include individual owners, hosts and other local allies.
- Keep it concise: A shorter, snappier name is always better than something cumbersome.
- Keep it easy to say, spell and remember: It’s immensely helpful for people to find your group by word of mouth and online searching, so make it easy for them to do so with shorter and more common words.
- Keep it non-political
- Consider the acronym: You may want or need to abbreviate your name, so either make the acronym part of your naming consideration or at least make sure your acronym isn’t inadvertently bad, like Property Owners of Onslow Pennsylvania…
Visual Identity
For a brand to become easily recognizable and trusted – which you’ll definitely want and need for your group! – a cohesive, polished look and consistency are equally key. This primarily includes your logo, color palette and fonts. We recommend finding an experienced designer to help with this and make sure all of your files are formatted correctly. (Even better if you can get a designer or marketing professional in your inner circle of volunteers!) But if you’ve got to DIY your brand at first, here are some tips.
LOGO
When creating a logo, keep it clean and simple. Include your group name and optionally a symbol or icon in an arrangement that’s easy to read and understand at all sizes. Remember: Because so many people interact with brands and websites from their phones now, a logo will often appear at sizes smaller than a postage stamp. Check out the 99designs ultimate guide to designing a logo.
COLORS
Color psychology plays a big role in communicating an identity, so thoughtful color choices matter. For example, green is tied closely with nature and money; blue often represents sky, sea, and trust; and purple communicates royalty and luxury. Check out this guide to colors in branding to get started.
FONTS
Just like colors, different fonts convey different things, giving brands their personality. You may have noticed this in familiar fonts; Times New Roman is classic and reliable; Comic Sans is never taken seriously; and Edwardian Script is for formal use only. We recommend picking two fonts that coordinate with the logo and each other, one for headlines and one for body text. Check out this Inkbot Design guide to font choices for direction.
Tech Tools
Once you’ve got your brand, now you can set up your tech tools and online presence.
Website and Domain Name
Every group needs an online footprint, so start with your domain name (the website address) and a basic website. We recommend a provider that offers hosting, domain names and website building tools all in one, such as BlueHost or GoDaddy. Pick a domain name that is your exact group name, a shortened version of your name, or your acronym with a .org extension, such as townvilleSTRalliance.org or townvilleSTRA.org. Try to avoid other variations that might trip people up, like tvilleshortterm.org.
Once you’ve got your domain name and hosting set up, it’s time to build your website. This is another great opportunity to get some volunteer help from amongst your members if websites aren’t in your wheelhouse, but DIY-ing it might not be as hard as you think. Lean on your hosting provider’s web builder tools, like WordPress or SquareSpace, which have some pre-built templates you can use. Here’s a helpful guide to building an organization website, and here are some tips for making sure it’s accessible to all.
Email Address & Mass Email Communications Platform
Once you have a domain name, you can also set up a branded email address, such as hello@[yourdomain].org. We recommend setting this up through Google’s GSuite, so you get both the custom email address and all of Google’s free tools like Docs, Drive, and Sheets – all incredibly helpful to starting and managing an alliance.
At a minimum, you’ll need to be able to email your member list. There are a number of email communications platforms to check out, but one of the most commonly used is MailChimp. We like MailChimp for its free basic subscription, robust marketing resources, and integrations with dozens of other tools.
Social Media
Even if you don’t start using all of them right away, we recommend creating accounts and pages under your group name on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You might even consider LinkedIn if your area has a high concentration of professional operators. On Facebook, create both a private group for a closed space for your members to connect and converse with each other and a public page to be able to share information with your broader community.
Member Database
Your member database is the meat and potatoes of your organization, so the more powerful your database, the more powerful your efforts will be. When you’re just starting out, the easiest database format to start with is a detailed spreadsheet stored in a secure location and backed up daily if kept on your computer instead of cloud storage.
The only information you really need is a full name and an email address, but the more information you can collect, the more effective your group can be. Other great-to-know information:
- Phone number
- Mailing address
- STR address
- What ways they might want to volunteer or take action
- Event participation
- Donations
- Number or types of STR properties
- Role in the industry, such as host, property manager, vendor, supplier
TIP
Don’t try to collect all of this information on one sign-up form. More than three fields will drop your sign-up rate significantly, according to Hubspot (check out more conversion tips here). Spread out your information capture over multiple touch points, such as event registrations, surveys, or polls.
Stay Organized
Now that you’ve got your foundation built, make sure it’s rock solid and easy to use with our alliance dashboard template. This multi-tab spreadsheet has space to organize and store everything you’ll need on quick reference – and it’s totally customizable to meet your group’s specific needs.
Chapter 2: Getting Together
Recruiting Members, Building a Leadership Team, and Creating Partnerships
Building an alliance is a labor of love, one that isn’t done alone or overnight. As you get started recruiting members and building your leadership team, think of all of the people and organizations that are touched by STRs. These are your stakeholders, and these individuals and groups will eventually be your leaders, members and allies in STR advocacy.
Recruiting Members
Top places to find and invite members and other allies:
Your Personal Network
Think about colleagues, other STR owners, your neighbors, people you know that support STRs.
External Networks
Facebook and LinkedIn groups, Meetups, real estate associations, and other existing groups with similar interests.
Property Managers
Reach out to local property management companies of short-term, long-term and corporate rentals.
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
Platforms like Vrbo and Airbnb may be able to help recruit their clients to your group or an event.
Existing Members
Most members will know other hosts and managers in the area, so ask them to invite their connections.
TIP
Member to member recruitment is a powerful flywheel. We recommend making this an easy ongoing effort by reminding members to do so in your regular communications.
Local Businesses
STRs and local businesses depend on each other. Local businesses rely on guest spending, and STR hosts rely on local businesses to provide a great guest experience and care for their properties. Whether it’s including a list of local restaurants or contracting a local cleaning company to prepare your space between guests, local business owners can be powerful advocates of STRs. Finding ways to support and work together is what community is all about.
How you can support one another:
- Sharing business referrals
- Highlighting services to guests/customers
- Sharing info on how STRs contribute to the local economy
- Creating a support system
- Co-hosting educational events that showcase small businesses
Ally Organizations
Chambers of commerce and visitors bureaus
STRs are a vital part of a local area’s tourism. Destination organizations often provide support and know the value STRs bring to the local economy.
Local nonprofits and community-based organizations
STR owners are a tight-knit community that are often the first to step up when disaster strikes. From providing temporary shelter during a disaster to community clean-up, it’s always great to have community-based connections to help you mobilize in times of need. Check out our Humans of Short-Term Rentals Series for some inspiring ideas on ways to give back to your community.
Real estate associations and investment groups
Local and sometimes state REALTORs associations and real estate investment groups are some of the most vocal pro-STR allies. They also usually have government relations committees and boards with strong relationships at city halls.
Building a leadership team and assigning roles
Every organized group needs a solid leadership team. Think about the people in your network and those you have met who want to advocate for STRs.
Leadership qualities
The leaders of your alliance are the cheerleaders of your cause. They will be the ones speaking at local council meetings, stepping up when media opportunities arise and working with neighbors. Look for some of these key qualities when thinking about who might be a good fit to fill a leadership role:
- People who are champions of the industry
- A good steward of the community
- Someone who can listen to other points of view
- Calm and collected under pressure
- Exemplifies good neighbor practices
- Ensures their STR is completely compliant with all applicable laws
Assigning Leadership Roles
Providing volunteers with a clear understanding of what their responsibilities will be is the key to success. You will also want to consider who is a good fit for each role based on each person’s strengths and interest level. Below is a general structure of roles your alliance may need. Keep in mind, each group is different and you may need to adjust based on your group’s goals and where you’re at in the process of getting set up.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, here are a few tips on getting started (from ASAE member Staci GoldbergBelle.)
- Keep it simple: Create clear areas of focus and break down large goals into small, manageable components.
- Quantifiable results: Show your leadership/members the results. This will keep your alliance focused and help keep volunteers engaged.
- In the loop: When volunteers feel heard, they become invested in the group. Keep your leadership/membership up-to-date on the decision making process and give them opportunities to provide feedback.
- Focused objectives: Keep the ask simple and actionable. Volunteers are often short on time. Provide necessary information on any tasks and make sure work is divided up among teams.
Sample Roles
Chair
This person will lead the meetings, put agendas together, serve as the primary contact for the leadership team, help set the groups goals and objectives and hold leaders accountable for attending meetings.
Vice Chair
This person will be the incoming chair and will help with board chair duties.
Treasurer
This position will handle financial duties (if applicable), ensures legal forms are filled out, reconciles accounts, provides financial statements, assist in the annual budget process.
Secretary
Distributes agenda before meetings, takes meeting minutes, handles document filing, holds members accountable for tasks.
Past Chair
This role serves as an advisory role to the Chair and the rest of the board and is the keeper of institutional knowledge.
Working Groups
Committees should be formed for longer, ongoing projects and task forces should be formed for specific tasks. These working groups will help you get work done efficiently and, most importantly, will help you identify future leaders of the organization. They also give the general membership the opportunity to get involved.
Ready to Recruit Leaders?
Download our leadership application template to help you evaluate candidates.
Leader Alternative: Volunteers
Perfect for those who want to step up but can’t make a full leadership commitment, volunteer sign-ups are a win-win for members and leaders.
Chapter 3: Getting Out There
Knowing Your Decision-Makers and How to Make Sure They Hear You
Laying the foundation for your short-term rental alliance is important, but so is getting out into your community. Being seen as a reputable short-term rental organization in your town means nothing if you are not interacting with local leaders and taking part in short-term rental discussions. In this chapter, we outline ways in which your alliance can create a proactive relationship with local leaders and neighbors to ensure that you’re playing a part in the decision making process. By establishing yourself as a responsible source of information and education, you’ll have the ability to help craft how short-term rentals are viewed in your region!
Government: Who is involved in the STR ordinance process?
When a short-term rental ordinance first appears on a City Council agenda, don’t panic. Ordinances have to go through a multi-step process that includes the input of various city entities and the public, and governance rules dictate advance notice for almost every step. Start to finish, an ordinance process takes several months and sometimes a year or more.
Ordinance proposals usually start with the topic being introduced to a council by a council member or a petition from the public. If the council chooses to take it up, they must then task a city staff to manage the process, often the Planning, Land Use or Zoning Department. Often, councils will assign the topic to a council committee or create a task force to study the STR issue.
TIP
Getting yourself or a member of your leadership committee on a task force is a critical opportunity for STR advocates to bring facts and solutions to the discussion early.
Task forces and committees usually have a series of meetings on this topic, which are open to the public and often take public comment. Be sure to fill these rooms with pro-STR voices – and correct misinformation that often finds its way into the conversation here.
Then, the task force or committee’s findings or recommendations are brought back to City Council, which then directs the staff to draft an ordinance. An ordinance draft goes back to council and often gets assigned to boards or commissions, usually the Planning Commission, for review and recommendations. Most Planning Commissions or other appointed boards must hold their own public hearings on the ordinance before they can vote on their recommendations.
Around this stage, many cities also hold public information sessions or workshops to help educate the public on the ordinance proposal.
Council then takes the discussion for its final steps. Most, if not all, cities must hold a public hearing before they issue their final vote. Some councils may cast their votes in the same meeting as a public hearing, while other cities do not allow this. Additionally, some cities require two or three readings and votes on an ordinance before it is enacted as law.
The specifics and timelines of these general steps vary from city to city. The most important takeaway here is that the ordinance process can be long and will require your group to be active and vocal at every step – so plan accordingly, give your members as many different ways to engage as possible, and spend your advocacy energy budget strategically.
Council Outreach Template
Ready to connect with elected officials but not sure how? Want to help members do the same? Download our Mad-Libs style template for reaching out to decision-makers to get your relationship started on the right foot.
Photo courtesy Leo Serrat
Where your community stands on STRs
While elected officials are those who ultimately vote on an ordinance or other rules, community members weigh in heavily throughout the process, so it’s important to understand their concerns. You will hear accusations from anti-STR voices that are untrue or exaggerated, and while it might be easy to get frustrated, as a leader of the STR community it is your duty to remain level-headed. Listen to others closely, try to empathize and focus on finding common ground. When you can take their concerns or perceived issues into consideration when you’re making your case, not only will you present yourself and your group as the adult in the room, you are much more likely to win over opponents.
Understanding ordinances
Short-term rentals most often address the following:
- Making sure STR operators are paying all appropriate tourism taxes.
- Keeping proliferation in check.
- Ensuring STRs are safe.
- Mitigating nuisance issues (noise, parking, and trash).
Broadly speaking, none of these ordinance pieces are automatically a threat. In fact, when done well, ordinances protect STRs against further attack by opponents or the risk of a bad apple STR ruining it for everyone else. Where ordinances become problematic is in the details of exactly how they are accomplishing these four goals. Lack of understanding can lead a council to enact ordinances that are ineffective at best and overly restrictive at worst. The good news: the next section of this guide will cover the data you need to empower your council to make a fact-based decision.
Heads up: Cities don’t always make it easy for citizens to understand the jargon of governance and regulations. Our glossary is a helpful starting point.
Myths vs. Facts:
Data to arm yourself with
Unfortunately, one of the things you will encounter in any advocacy effort is myths and misconceptions. Though not always intentional, chances are most of your community won’t have a solid understanding of what STRs are and the people behind them. Many believe Airbnb or Vrbo owns the STRs in their community. Many see “party house” headlines and believe all STRs are beacons for raging parties and criminal activity. Others believe big companies will come in and buy up whole neighborhoods to turn them into STRs.
We know all this to be untrue, but until they see proof otherwise and get to know the responsible hosts and managers behind the properties, many neighbors will remain fearful – and therefore vocal. This fear and confusion will undoubtedly find its way to council ears, so get ahead of it as much and as quickly as possible by arming yourself with facts, data, and friendly faces.
Some data to have on hand and make sure your elected officials see often:
The tourism taxes STRs pay (both rate and dollar volume)
Total number of STRs in your area
Total number of housing units in your area
Percentage of total housing used as whole-home STRs
Number and type of complaints about STRs registered with the city
Data Gathering
Check out our Data for Advocacy guide to gathering this and other important information.
Public Records
How to submit public records requests through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and local Sunshine Laws.
Getting Heard: Local Government
One of the most important and impactful areas advocacy efforts will come into play is when interacting with local leaders and your government. Depending on the state of STRs in your area, interaction with local government might be proactive and positive, or very much needed and somewhat behind the curve. Party houses or other STR-related issues could be dominating local news and dictating the conversations local government is having about STRs. If you have been dropped into the discussion after anti-STR rhetoric has taken hold, that’s ok! Remember the three pillars: celebrate, educate, collaborate. These apply to engagement with local officials, too.
What’s Happening in Your Region?
When interacting with local government, it’s important to note that many government officials are not experts in STRs like you are. In fact, many of them are hearing about STRs through hearsay or media headlines. Because of this, it is imperative to evaluate where your local government stands on the subject of STRs quickly.
Some cities may have dedicated STR pages on their government websites, which can be a helpful starting point. If not, search the city site for the term short-term rentals or Google search [Your City] short-term rentals to see what pages, documents, and other resources do come up.
TIP
If you can’t locate the information you need, contact the city! They can point you in the direction of proper points of contact, landing pages and resources to help you.
Watch council meetings and others to gauge where decision-makers stand on STRs, and reach out to them directly. Note their temperament and opinions of STRs to help craft messages and share helpful information accordingly.
Timelines and Dates
There are various local government meetings where STR discussions take place, and it is imperative to pay close attention to these. Attending and watching these meetings is a great way to learn about where decision-makers stand on STRs, to see what the biggest issues might be with STRs that your group can help solve, and to make your presence known to those behind a dias.
Meetings to be on the lookout for are:
- City Council and committee meetings
- Planning Commission meetings
- Public hearings, workshops, and information sessions
TIP
Most cities have RSS feeds and/or meeting notifications you can subscribe to. Sign up for every alert you can.
Get Them on the Calendar!
Local government websites have calendars that show all government meetings. You can also follow your city’s social media pages to learn about upcoming events. Keep track of these in a centralized place that’s easy to access. This calendar will serve as the backbone for member communication and advocacy campaigns around important ordinance milestones and other important meetings.
Contact Your Government Officials
Engaging directly with your elected officials and other key staff is essential before, during and after an ordinance process. We recommend proactively meeting with decision-makers on a regular basis, even if there isn’t an ongoing ordinance discussion happening.
Consider having leadership team members and even a few select volunteers take turns meeting with them once a month to stay in front of them in a positive, collaborative way (and give you a chance to catch wind of anything unfriendly to STRs early.) This includes not just town or city council members but the city manager, city attorney, the staff department in charge of managing STRs, and advisory boards involved in STR ordinance evaluations. All of their information will be publicly available on your city’s website.
Public Comment Opportunities
As STR ordinances are debated in city hall, there are often several opportunities to submit public comments (also called testimonies) to decision-makers. Mobilizing your alliance during these times is of the utmost importance and directing them on how to use their own voices even more so.
Because these comments are a part of the public record and often heard live, think of these as statements to the public, not simply publicly-available statements to city council. We recommend submitting testimony on behalf of your alliance and activating members to submit their own, spoken or written. Ensure that your messaging is concise, to the point, and, most importantly, united. The better represented your alliance and pro-STR message is, the more likely it is to be received well.
Template: Outreach Message to Elected Officials
A Mad-Libs style template for introducing yourself to your city council or other decision-makers.
Public Comment 101
Get the guide to staying cool, calm and collected and crafting a public comment testimony that makes sure your message is heard.
Staying Engaged After a Vote:
Remember: Even once an STR ordinance is on the books, it can be changed for better or for worse – particularly after elected officials leave office and new ones take their seats. Government officials will be just as important to you after a vote as they are during a vote.
Get Compliant
One of the best first steps is to help your alliance become compliant with a new law. Reach out to all pertinent departments and gather all information needed for compliance will not only help your members avoid violations or penalties, it will show your group’s dedication to responsible STR practices.
Some government officials will even attend events if invited to help your alliance become compliant. Don’t be afraid to invite them to a Zoom meeting, webinar or in-person event. This sets up a relationship between your alliance and the city, and separates you from any “bad apples” that may have led to a negative STR ordinance to begin with.
Share Resources
Sharing resources, information, and even stories is incredibly helpful to other STR advocates.
- Marketing tips: Maybe you’ve got all the info on how to become a top host on a listing site or someone else has great information on jazzing up listing pics. Sharing tips and tricks on marketing not only is good for business but will help build a network within your alliance.
- Experiences with local government: If someone has already been through a permit process or has had experience connecting with city council members, this experience is extremely beneficial to others. Often, people feel intimidated when dealing with local government and having an idea of what to expect or how to best communicate with local leaders is extremely beneficial.
- Business resources: Creating amazing experiences is what our community is all about. The businesses we connect with and use make the magic happen. Sharing a great landscaper with other members or maybe one that is better to avoid is good practice. You’ll promote community businesses and strengthen the STR community.
- Dealing with problematic guests: Dealing with problematic guests can be a headache. It also can create negative assumptions about the STR community. Sharing best practices on how to handle communication with the guests and neighbors is key to nipping the issue in the bud.
- Pro tools: Do you use an awesome app that helps you monitor a guest’s check-in? Or maybe you found out about a great noise monitoring system. Sharing these pro tools help make the STR community more professional.
Reaching out to past guests – if you have a good relationship/route of open communication with a past guest who has a standout story of how the STR community helped them, this is great information to collect. Later on, you can share this via social media, with City Council, and others who maybe aren’t aware of the ways the STR community helps others. Encouraging alliance members to collect and share these stories is also a great way to spread the word.
Chapter 4: Getting Together
Building Community & Keeping Members Engaged for the Long Term
If there is one thing we hope you take away from this guidebook, it’s that you cannot have advocacy without community engagement and support. Advocacy and community are all about building relationships that engage and empower individuals. Community engagement efforts can broaden the understanding of the value responsible short-term rentals bring to your location. Community is the foundation upon which advocacy is built.
Being a Great Neighbor
Guests love STRs for their homelike setting and the opportunity to live like a local. But it’s important for alliance members to be mindful and communicative to neighbors to foster positive relationships that can ensure the future of STRs in your destination. Complaints from neighbors are red flags for police departments and city representatives, which can often be a fast track to severe STR limits or bans. Educate hosts to proactively protect their STR and their property by being upfront with their neighbors and opening a dialogue.
Proactive practices to prevent nuisance issues
Empower alliance members to be proactive with their neighbors with practices that take minimal effort but will save them potential challenges down the road. Building even a small amount for rapport and goodwill can be the difference between a call to the cops or a text message to your phone.
Tip: Use Rent Responsibly's free Good Neighbor Guide as a tool for members to build:
- Proactive neighbor communication
- A hospitality mindset with neighbors for win-win relationships
- Plans, worksheets, and a free printable for noise, trash and parking management
What to do if you have an issue that affects your neighbors
There’s nothing worse for STRs than an upset neighbor. A couple of noisy guests or unsightly trash problems can ignite a full on war between neighbors and hosts, which can start a march to City Hall. It’s important to equip alliance members with the tools to address upset neighbors and skills to smooth things over as quickly as possible.
Some helpful pointers you can equip alliance members with:
Listen Actively and Remediate Immediately
Mistakes do happen, and in the event of any problems or complaints, be extremely proactive. If your neighbor reaches out to you directly to notify you of an incident, stay calm and respectful and listen to what the neighbor has to say. Thank them for communicating their concern with you and tell them you understand. Reflective listening, which is rephrasing and repeating back what they’ve expressed to you, is an excellent way of de-escalating the situation and creating room for a calm and productive dialogue. Reassure the upset neighbor that you value that they’ve reached out and that you’ll take the necessary steps to make sure issues like that don’t happen again.
Consider Mediation
If you’ve had a handful of negative exchanges with your neighbors, it may be beyond repair to communicate directly to mend the relationship. At this point, we suggest considering using a mediation service. Many communities offer these types of services for residents free of charge. You and your neighbor have the chance to sit down with a professional mediator in a neutral and confidential setting. This voluntary process allows both sides to be heard. The goal of mediation is to reach a written agreement between neighbors.
Member Events
A key element to growing members and keeping them engaged is by hosting events that provide useful information for STR stakeholders. Providing targeted, valuable content through in-person or virtual events helps form lasting relationships and drives long-term engagement. Not only does this valuable content keep members coming back for more, it often raises the standard of operations and results in professional representation of STR operators to the larger community. Don’t be afraid to put together a short survey asking owners, hosts, property managers what they want to learn about to ensure your content meets their needs.
Hosting events is a powerful way to engage members and can be a catalyst to shift a negative narrative and show City Hall that the STR community is made up of people who care about being a responsible operator. Below are some examples of event themes or topics that deliver value to alliance members:
- Marketing practices that increase revenue and maximize returns
- Taxes and STR accounting – understanding the basics
- Technology – how to make the most of a few keys essentials
- Insurance – how to ensure you and your STR is property covered
- Bad Guests – how to spot red flags and what do you if they’ve already arrived
Regular Communication
Remember, members will join the alliance because they’re personally invested in the mission. As your most devoted supporters, they deserve to be kept in the loop on alliance projects, initiatives and newsworthy updates. To that end, you should regularly communicate with your members beyond just hosting events. This can include any of the following ways:
- Email newsletters
- Participation acknowledgements
- Social media updates and engagement
- Personal outreach
By staying active in your members’ lives through regular communication efforts, you’ll remind them of their interest in the alliance and encourage them to participate themselves. And as valuable as it is for your alliance to get the word out about important updates, it’s equally important that members have a place to communicate too!
Give-Back Initiatives
Building community and member engagement can be cultivated by asking members to identify local charity partners or to create volunteering opportunities. Involving more members in diverse types of volunteer opportunities increases their awareness and appreciation of the alliance activities. Providing members an opportunity to give back to the community helps build comradery and instill a sense of pride in themselves and the alliance. Picking an organization or volunteer activity that aligns with STRs is double points and can create lasting impact. Some great examples of this include Habitat for Humanity, park and trail clean up and restoration, children’s hospital, homeless shelters, linen drive, food banks, and many more.
Emergency Accommodations Programs
Unexpected disasters can strike at any given moment leaving communities and residents desperate for shelter and assistance. Whether it is a natural disaster like the snowstorm in Texas that left 4.1 million without access to power for days, or a landslide in Hawaii that displaces residents from their homes, having a network of STR hosts willing to participate in an emergency accommodations program can provide relief in impactful and powerful ways.
The purpose of this guide is to jumpstart your journey into STR community advocacy. The steps we’ve outlined serve as a powerful roadmap of how to engage strategically and effectively – and it’s up to you to take action and keep stepping forward toward the outcome you want to create. This is the most comprehensive community-building guide to date, but there will always be something new to add and learn. Bookmark this guide and come back to it regularly as we are continually updating it with new tips and best practices.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
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Congratulations! If you’ve reached the end of this guide, your journey has officially begun! Thank you for reading.