New Orleans is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, especially now in 2014. It has been ranked as an inexpensive vacation, a foodie’s dream come true, and a party haven. All categories aside, New Orleans attracts visitors from all over the world, year-round.
New Orleans has over 50,000 hotel rooms to accommodate some of its major festivals and holidays, but is that enough? When New Orleans was the host for Super Bowl XXLII, finding a hotel in a city already crowded for Mardi Gras proved difficult for visitors. Once word got out that the number of visitors was going to exceed the number of available hotel rooms, visitors turned to Craigslist, AirBnB.com and VRBO.com to rent apartments from residents with available space. The Super Bowl wasn’t the only time residents were renting out their houses and apartments. This has been a daily practice for quite some time now.
What is a Short Term Rental?
When referring to short term rentals, you can break it down into two categories. If you are talking strictly about the law, there are legal and “illegal” short term rentals. A licensed, legal short term rental is what you would think of as a Bed & Breakfast Family Home, Guest Home, Historic Home, Inn or Hotel / Motel. They have applied for all the proper permits and have paid the necessary sales and hotel occupancy taxes if necessary.
According to the City of New Orleans, an illegal short term rental is something you would most likely find on a Craigslist or Airbnb ad. Typically, this is a house, condominium or apartment that is rented out for a few days at a time without the appropriate New Orleans city licenses. Due to these websites, residents have an easier time finding visitors to rent their homes and vice versa. To give you an idea of how many residents of New Orleans are renting out their homes on a daily, weekend or holiday basis, you can search through thousands of homes at a time in the Greater New Orleans area on Airbnb.com.
What are the Advantages of a Short Term Rental?
I understand that the hotels are not making the revenue and the city isn’t making the taxes when someone chooses to stay at a house they found on Airbnb.com. But, the revenue made by the homeowner (or renter in some cases), is many times staying locally with the homeowner who in turn spends the money on our local businesses. Our city attracts so many people annually during our festivals and due to the shortage in hotel rooms, and understanding the economics of supply and demand, hotel room prices are constantly being driven up. By increasing the prices of the hotel rooms, we are deterring our most loyal visitors from continuously enjoying Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest and other annual local festivals at a reasonable cost. The “illegal” short term rentals are giving our visitors the ability to come back each year with extra money in their wallet to spend while they are visiting here. Additionally, property values are actually driven up by this rental practice.
Complaints About Illegal Short Term Rentals in New Orleans
Some neighbors do not like the fact that there are strangers constantly rotating in and out of their residential neighborhood. I get that, but a private home is a private home. New Orleans attracted 9.28 million visitors in 2013 and (recorded) hotel occupancy during Mardi Gras 2013, alone, was above 99%. With less than 1% of the remaining hotel rooms available, there is certainly a need and mark for both legal and illegal short term rentals.
We always have strangers coming and going. The city is not embracing the changing landscape of tourism (don’t even let me get started on Uber). Not everyone wants to stay in the French Quarter and experience New Orleans with other tourists on Bourbon Street. Showing off our other great parts of the city, such as Mid-City, the Garden District, the Bywater, the Lakefront and the Uptown Carrollton area is a positive factor of the short term rentals. There is much more to New Orleans than drunk tourists on Bourbon Street. If we want to continuously attract visitors from all over the world, then we should consider making room for these short term rentals rather than banning them altogether. I’m sure there is a way to come up with a compromise.
Have you recently been approached by the city for your short term rental? As a New Orleans landlord lawyer, I would like to hear from you. We can also set up a free initial consultation if you find yourself in legal trouble with New Orleans. Please do not hesitate to contact me or call (504) 264-9492 for a free consultation to discuss your case.
