Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bryan Stascavage, a veteran who is a manager for Faberge Home Rentals, which has been renting homes in Southern Vermont for five years. The founder of the company has owned a home in Newfane for three decades. Co-signees are listed below the commentary.
[T]he fundamental principle that underlines a healthy public debate is to always assume good intent by all individuals and groups involved. Julia Cook’s commentary contained several real concerns that my colleagues and I share, but her article also contained some factual and analytical inaccuracies that we feel should be addressed.
As owners or managers of these homes, we take our responsibility to our community and renters very seriously. Many of us are local Vermonters. We want to remain good neighbors, we want our guests to have a good time and be safe, and we want to preserve the unique culture of Vermont. I personally send each guest a house manual that contains instructions on how to use the various features of the home, how to dispose of trash, advising them to have vehicles that can handle the Vermont winter, and warnings about fireplaces and woodburning stoves. I know my colleagues do the same.
All short-term rental properties pay the rooms and meals tax, which is between 9% and 10% of the base rent depending on local laws, and is remitted automatically by Airbnb. For HomeAway/VRBO, the homeowner collects and remits the taxes to the state and local community. A common argument that is voiced by opponents of short-term rentals is that we should be on the same playing field with hotels with respect to regulations; however, there is no equivalency between a hotel and a home. Hotels are very dense, that is, a lot more individuals and families are in a much smaller area when compared to a home. The differences in regulations account for this, just as there are differences in regulations when obtaining a passenger car driver’s license versus a commercial driver’s license. The long list of regulations suggested by Cook will not create an even playing field, it would put most of us out of business. The hotel industry commonly makes this “even playing field” argument in an attempt to legislate my colleagues out of existence.
It is also important to note that most guests, well over 95% in our experience, are respectful, kind individuals who are looking to have a good time. They do not pollute, play loud music, commit crimes, or cause any disruption to the neighborhood. Cook’s column has a very grim view of vacationers in Vermont that I do not believe is warranted. Yes, there are guests who are not respectful, but it is by far the minority, and judging a group by its most extreme outliers is a dark road that one does not want to go down. It is the trailhead to bigotry.
The last point of Cook’s that I would like to clarify is her claim about the unfair competition that short-term rentals are able to enjoy with respect to hotels and other lodging establishments. Most vacationers to Vermont do not have Airbnb up in one browser tab, and a hotel website in another. The clientele that is looking at Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO is looking for a home, not a hotel room. We are not competing with the hotels in Vermont, we are competing with the short-term rental community in New Hampshire, Maine, and other popular vacation destinations across the country. Should Cook’s suggested regulations and changes go into effect, these vacationers will simply pick another state, and Vermont will lose that revenue.
This brings me to the next point I wish to make, the second and third order effects that are unique to short-term rentals. Hotels and resorts condense a large number of guests into a relatively small area, Dover for Mount Snow, for example. Short-term rental properties are sprinkled throughout the small towns and rural communities that dot our landscape. Our guests come from a wide variety of backgrounds, which allows more residents of Vermont to directly interact with the great diversity of our country and our world.
For business owners in these small Vermont towns, our guests provide a lot of revenue that is critical to their bottom line. They are shopping at the small grocery stores, visiting the pop-up farm stands that line the roads to and from our homes, passing the art boutiques and dropping in to get a memento for their home. We promote many of your businesses to our guests. And unlike the hotels that use huge contractors, we use Vermont-based small businesses to keep our homes in pristine condition: cleaners, carpenters, landscapers, plumbers, electricians, and so on. I recently gave a maintenance contract to an enterprising young individual, born and raised in Vermont, who is saving up to buy his new family a home.
In other words, our community is helping to preserve Vermont’s unique culture. We do not want to destroy it, mostly because we are ethical human beings, but also because we market that culture to attract guests. It is in our best interest to keep Vermont, Vermont.
Cosigned By:
Jenny Dewar, STR Owner, Pownal
Amelia Silver, STR Owner, Pownal
Julie H., STR Owner, Vermont
Tom and Denise Salem-Sklepowicz, STR Owner, Bennington
Sarita Khan, Owner, Montgomery Center
S.J.Barrett, Owner, Stowe
Jesse Pratt, Owner, Marlboro
Andrea Bredbeck, Westminster
Lisa Ford, STR Owner, Guilford
Angela Earle Gray, Brattleboro
Jason Gray, Brattleboro
Crystal Stillman, STR Owner, Brattleboro
Liza King and Rick Neumann, STR owners, Brattleboro
Janet and John Heartson Barnet
Kat Gray, STR Owner, Woodstock
Jesse Robbins, STR Owner, Montgomery & LTR owner, Burlington
