Summer is upon us, and with the increased vaccination rate making tourism possible now, places like our district in Newport are pleased and relieved to welcome visitors again.
As the tourism industry tries to recover from the devastation impacts of a lost year, our state must get back to work on unresolved issues concerning short-term rentals offered by third-party hosting platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO.
We’ve been working in the General Assembly on several efforts to address their regulation and taxation, and we cannot afford to keep kicking the can down the road in the unique challenges faced this tourism season. We’ve already experienced one tragedy this summer – the murder of a URI student at a party held at a short-term rental on Thames Street in Newport on Memorial Day weekend.
Without any interaction between the landlord and the renter who secures the property through the third-party platform, there is little vetting of renters, and rarely any management or other means available to discourage renters from using properties for out-of-control gatherings. The anonymity fostered by the third-party platforms reduces the sense of responsibility between renters and property owners, and complicates local efforts to maintain public safety and peace in the residential areas where they are located.
