HomeMy WebLinkAbout07072018 Planning & Zoning Work Session Packet 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
vacation rental industry. An estimated$2 million in lodging tax revenue was being lost each
year on vacation rentals that were non-compliant . As of November, 2016 only 550 short 1 h
term rental (STR) units had a business license, while at the same time 1071 listings were
advertised on the big 3 short term rental platforms (AirBnB, VRBO/HomeAway, Flipkey/
TripAdvisor). The compliance gap exists because short term rental websites only show
partial identifying information, and not exact addresses or full names 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 Harman in October, 2016 to monitor, identify s ''
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
trained staff goes about the following strategies to identify the STR operator and the exact address of the STR property:
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Implementation Specifics
Harmari coordinated with the Code Compliance Tax Workflow
team assigned to the STR project. Within the
first month, over 70% of the listings were ryHi
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identified and outreach letters prepared. In
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Santa Fe, sometimes licensees would show
the business license number instead of the �� f
lodging-tax permit number. The software was
adapted to cover both scenarios. After the
identifications, a list of non-compliant STR
operators and the respective property owners
was generated. For property managers, the e: � •� _ .
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 tax i
obligations of offering their property for short eAlAAhja
term rent. Harmari helped the City to generate ,
a mail merge for over 100 letters to be sent. Harmari
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 Oecember 2016 contained 1102 fully identified listings, License Count
of which 276 were apartments. About 185 unregistered STR Operators were wo
found (16%) in the initial deliverable. Harmari staff prepared the mailout for 700
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
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has led to a great success in bringing in previously lost lodging tax revenue
to the City. 100
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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
Randall,Randy Director,
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Email: rrandall@santafenm.gov Web:www.harmari.com
Gold Partner
www.harmari.com 1 1-877-352-3277 1 info@harmari.com
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Link to the website of the properties advertised
Location of rental, number of guests, room size, cleaning/booking fees
.v 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
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