BY ANGELA BONILLA & JESSICA SHORTEN
In their words
Breaking down the revenue
Short-term rental owner revenue in The Woodlands area
AirDNA data shows the short-term rental market growing in protability for home- owners over the past several years. In May, the number of bookings in short-term rentals generated $1.45 million in revenue for own- ers in The Woodlands, Oak Ridge North and Shenandoah. However, regulations can vary depending on whether cities choose to treat short-term rentals like hotels and require them to pay hotel occupancy taxes. “The enforcement can always be dicult,” said Pam Knudsen, senior director of lodging tax compliance at Avalara, a company that provides tax compliance for short-term rental owners. “There is a revenue impact to the potential property owner who’s using that house as a short-term rental. But there’s also a revenue impact to the community if you regulate.”
“I think it’s important that [rental owners] participate in paying the
$15M
[hotel occupancy tax because] that’s what is required of them.” TED FLETCHER, SHENANDOAH COUNCIL MEMBER
$10M
$5M
$0
SOURCE: AIRDNACOMMUNITY IMPACT
*AS OF MAY
Knudsen said regulations are common in cities, and they allow short-term rentals to be seen as another form of tourism. “Most of the communities that we deal with have a type of short-term type of lodging tax that is applicable to the short-term rentals,” Knudsen said.
“[North Houston] maintained a pretty consistent occupancy, and that’s counter to the national trend.” BRAM GALLAGHER,
DIRECTOR OF ECONOMICS AND FORECASTING, AIRDNA
Stay tuned
“It’s more concentrated in, you know, local ownership and smaller operators, so a lot more of that money will go back into the community, compared to airfare that you might have paid you to get to Houston, or a hotel that you might have stayed in where you pay ¤at fees to Holiday Inn or something like that,” Gallagher said.
Oak Ridge North City Council approved an ordinance at its June 24 meeting. An ordinance discussed by Shenandoah City Council is still pending nal approval, while the township has yet to revisit its short-term rental standards since 2019. Gallagher said the biggest concern he has heard from short-term rental operators is making sure cities work with homeowners as opposed to overregulating.
“I just don’t think a resident should have to deal with [short-term
rental violations] period, and I don’t think the state of Texas should be allowed to determine what we think about it either.” PAUL BOND, MAYOR, OAK RIDGE NORTH
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