The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About07182018 Planning & Zoning Work Session Notes J 'iiiW Problem Statement - Santa Fe, New Mexico is one of the oldest Cities in North America, originally settled in - 1607. Santa Fe is known for its over 250 art galleries, museums, and world-class cuisine. It is famous for its Artist in Residence events in the Winter, and Baroque Holy Week. It ' ^;� ,:, ► also has the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Wine & Chile Fiesta, and many other events • throughout the year. Its touristic draw and casual atmosphere makes it perfect for the r1r; KALck`�' .'`L\•• •' vacation rental industry. An estimated$2 million in lodging tax revenue was being lost each .' . s -- year on vacation rentals that were non-compliant . As of November, 2016 only 550 short • . ...4 ; y term rental(STR) units had a business license, while at the same time 1071 listings were �� "� ell advertised on the big 3 short term rental platforms (AirBnB, VRBO/HomeAway, Flipkey/ r, TripAdvisor). The compliance gap exists because short term rental websites only show partial identifying information, and not exact addresses or full navies that could easily be cross-checked against the business license database. Those websites only display a first name,and an approximate radius of where the property is located which may be scattered up to 0.3 miles from its true location. Proposed Solution Santa Fe contracted with Harmari in October, 2016 to monitor, identify ° ''*:. - and assist with outreach on the STR listings advertised within the City. . Harmari's STR program began around that time to capture short term rental ' listing metadata,such as host name,approximate address,title,description, number of bedrooms, nightly rate, minimum nights, and more. Harmari's -- ' . -==-- - x- trained staff goes about the following strategies to identify the STR operator and the exact address of the STR property: 1. Collect all organic, non-affiliate, non-aggregated STR _____..___, _-.1r•• - -_ listings within the City ,-wnWPnnYalq McO.pp,,.p.pa —— - o x 2. Remove duplication on those listings, leaving only �': '® „.a tools". lotus,.,,,,.k., m S,,,- unique listings -''"'""'""" • -�--- -- - - J.a.wns..rr.,w 3. Check the latitude and longitude of the listing against I ''" -` "' ®�' the database of the STR operators with a business l` �,-�' , license in the City I i. _ �, .Nt;: I 4. Look for information on the listing that corroborates ""� Bedroom Wee k*.W.2 ...-. the business license holder's name or business name . - 5. Look for image(s) in the listing that correspond to the ----• - p maps i _ s atial available for the region 6. Look for secondarywebsites with features similar to :. the STR listing .: �. " .T ` 4 ; - - o 7. Look for social media content that corresponds to the , . - -.-* i err w I, ' listingoperator. This includes Facebook, Linkedln, ` 'u - - Instagram ,� - r - 8. Document all screenshots,timestamp and label „,;,;,;,;; i evidence • O ® - • ,• 1 ..' , 9. Continue steps 1-8 until all listings have been • . 4 t:.4 ' .- . 4 identified .- _. - __--.,.'- %- : ." • 2. �� Santa Fe New Mexican,Dec.9,2015 http://www.santa(enewmexican.com/news/business/city-million-in-revenue-lost-on-unlicensed-vacation-rentals/article 24a733a3-b82c-5150-8901-db5232928021.1itml www.harmari.com I 1-877-352-3277 I info@harmari.com Implementation Specifics Harmari coordinated with the Code Compliance T x Workflow team assigned to the STR project. Within the first month, over 70% of the listings were Harmari identified and outreach letters prepared. In --!`ill• — Santa Fe, sometimes licensees would show STR ' — our Partner the business license number instead of the Licensees lodging-tax permit number. The software was adapted to cover both scenarios. After the Listing j identifications, a list of non-compliant STR BeaCt,t,00se! i operators and the respective property owners ^ _ _ _ sH e ",ya�o�ri� was generated. For property managers, the VH _. . City engages with them directly on a regular �' basis so compliance was easy to attain with them. Owner-operated STRs were another • matter, because the typical property owner is not aware of the licensing, safety and taxif;t obligations of offering their property for short E>� term rent. Harmari helped the City to generate L , Harmari a mail merge for over 100 letters to be sent. Secondly, Code Compliance recognized the problem that STRs are most active with guests checking in or out on weekends. The Code Compliance staff of 3 worked weekends to catch guests checking into/out of STRs with definitive proof of STR business activity at the addresses specified from the Harmari STR Compliance report. Results Santa Fe Short Term Rental The Harmari report for December 2016 contained 1102 fully identified listings, License Count of which 276 were apartments. About 185 unregistered STR Operators were 800 found(16%) in the initial deliverable. Harmari staff prepared the mailout for 7°° the City, the City printed and mailed the outreach letters, and only 2 came 600 back return-to-sender. City Code Enforcement staff were able to identify soo many non-compliant STR operators during their weekend investigations and 400 field work. As of October 2017, Santa Fe has 671 business licenses registered 300 for STRs. This has resulted in a 22% increase in licensees for the City,which has led to a great success in bringing in previously lost lodging tax revenue zoo to the City. 100 0 Oct-16 Oct-17 Conclusion All City staff involved in this project have expressed their satisfaction with Harmari's STR Compliance services, including the Land Use department,Tourism, Code Compliance and the City Manager's office. For more information, please contact: City of Santa Fe, NM Harmari by LTAS Randy Randall, Executive Director;Tourism Tel: (877) 352-3277 extension 1 ORACLE Tel: (505) 955-6209 Email: info@harmari.com Email: rrandall@santafenm.gov Web: www.harmari.com Gold Partner www.harmari.com 11-877-352-3277 I info@harmari.com tie Short Term Rental Identification and Monitoring If your municipality or state has a Hotel /Lodging Tax applicable to owner/operated properties, then Harmari TaxCrawler can offer you qualified leads with the following data: • Link to the website of the properties advertised • Location of rental, number of guests, room size, cleaning/booking fees • Full name and address of the short term rental operator with supporting evidence • Estimated revenues based on rental rate, reviews, calendar occupancy, and min. nights • On-shore 24/7 complaints hotline with notification to licensee, City staff, and police • STR violations archived, with weekly monitoring reports • Identification Accuracy guarantee or your money back Data collected from AirBnB, STR Heat Map VRBO/HomeAway, _ -; : . . „ FlipKey/TripAdvisor, p� = r,, ;k ' �t^ te . Craigslist & more i • .-,;, , , ,;,._.,,,,„. �� •`10041)e" ..ter.. { • r ` /s �, lo iff 7., ! "F 1 ? • `` 'IA 3,5'0„. ,.1(-'..1''.1'4 ,, . • -4, : :,, 1 i tA- ill . — -- - - erg. F 1 w r . • _r ,. o- . , u 1::: ,i,...;:Af ";;I: .{,-;;;.--z, . .yil!..Alistpt.. ......... . _ -- Bed 1`-!'1 ft. �s ..,..._. Contact Us Today for a Free Inventory of ORACLE Short Term Rentals in your area Gold Partner www.harmari.com I 1-877-352-3277 I info@harmari.com it-+nay H'a&-r-ve C--n-S vv.: cxe.... Serse Svckv • & L ;r-cr e- eciiv,-ev.c ; ,e rrgv ).1 h�vt a 1304tr vAcksziS'I d ki of Mar ' Sec.-fv( h� au v t 0t 40 0d01MS comics otAtr at/0(41.e twU,St Cock ok*v S— Q,Y .01-CAA\' ? ' / ; ci& e I`e...gc T%r b; I. rv\ 21 is atIL.ft 0+ V1� i ea%)e cok)-)ty\ 14 0,0142_ pe k.-'j Sys roAc A_ -E'D{ CotiLL tvL — ;uh C..1,"•, a-e-sor,s I tv .01 r251v1+ '41 /OfS v %tdP td jrw•m� c J / l eNSjYw.,-.‘' 50 '1 -111m t P4 SCA I i`D Mvru�