Is a regulatory body for vacation rentals needed? Places like AirBNB and Vrbo are often so focused on profits that they completely neglect the safety of their customers renting these units. Since the owners of the property and the company doing the renting are both purely driven for the financial gain in almost all cases, it’s easy for the rights of customers to slip through the cracks. 

Benefits of Regulation =

Customer Safety Improves and Professionalizes the Industry

                                                         

One of the biggest issues appears to be the capacity sizes of some of these rentals, and there doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason as to how the number of maximum customers is calculated. This can account for units with only a few bedrooms and bathrooms being advertised for up to 20 visitors, which is both unsafe and unfair to everyone involved. Having regulations in place would also force renters to keep their buildings up to code with all electrical and safety equipment like fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide detectors, which would almost entirely eliminate much of the safety concerns overall.

Key Points:

  • 1Current vacation rentals via sites like AirBnB do not have same regulations/legal requirements as the hotel industry.
  • 2Without any regulation guests and property owners are at risk.
  • 3Regulating the AirBnB type vacation industry is a positive move benefiting guests and property owners.


Regulations will separate those who are serious about hosting and managing vacation rentals and those who just throw properties together.