Hotel chain president: City should regulate short-term lodging

Midamerica Hotels Corp. president Dan Drury wants Cape Girardeau city officials to regulate Airbnb and other short-term lodging rentals offered through online listings.

Drury told the city council last week such room and even whole-house rentals are competing directly with his hotels while not having to comply with city and even state regulations that govern his business.

"I think it needs to be fair and equitable," he told the council.

A check of the Airbnb online website lists 88 short-term lodging rentals in Cape Girardeau County, including 46 in Cape Girardeau.

Drury said his company has to have a city merchant's license, state license and even a state health-department license for his hotels. But operators of Airbnb and other short-term lodging can operate without such licenses, he said.

In addition, such lodging owners don't charge customers the city motel tax, he said. Money from that tax goes to fund Convention and Visitors Bureau operations, which generates tourism dollars.

"The city is missing out on tax revenue," Drury said after the council meeting.

He said such lodging also is not required to meet building and fire-safety codes. In contrast, his hotels meet such codes, he said.

"I don't think it is fair," he said.

City manager Scott Meyer said the city staff will study the issue.

"It is a very difficult thing to regulate," he said.

Operators of such lodging would "come closer" to meeting the city's definition of a landlord than the owner of a hotel or a bed-and-breakfast, Meyer said.

The city has regulations governing landlord-operated rental housing, including apartments.

Landlord and former Cape Girardeau police chief Rick Hetzel, who owns a guest cottage along with more conventional rental housing, said he abides by city regulations and believes all lodging operators should be regulated by the city to some extent.

"If you operate a business in your home, it needs to be licensed," he said. "I don't see anything wrong with some regulations."

Regulations, he said, protect the lodging owner and the guest.

Mayor Harry Rediger said Drury's comments "came out of the blue."

Rediger said the issue is new to him.

"It is the first time this was brought up (to the council)," he said.

New York and some other cities have sought to regulate guest lodging offered by Airbnb -- efforts that have led to lawsuits.

Some of the nation's regulators and affordable-housing advocates contend Airbnb makes it easier to rent out apartment units illegally for short stays for travelers.

Airbnb has a growing presence, with users spending $2.4 billion on lodging in the U.S. over the past year, according to a hotel-industry analysis.

Nationwide, Airbnb lists about 173,000 units, compared to more than 5 million rooms rented out by traditional hotels, according to online news reports.

Airbnb, founded in 2008, stands for AirBed and Breakfast. Its founders inflated an air mattress in their San Francisco apartment for their first guests.

Co-founder Brian Chesky wrote in a blog "Airbnb is the new, old way to travel." Chesky compared Airbnb lodging to that of boarding homes that catered to travelers decades ago.

Andrew Bard opens his 1870-era Cape Girardeau home to travelers who book lodging through the internet.

Bard, who runs his lodging enterprise through his computer-services business, said anyone who rents out rooms should be required to obtain a business license.

"They are running a business, after all," he said.

But Bard said he doesn't believe such lodging needs to be inspected by the city. He said "inspections" already occur via guest reviews through Airbnb and other short-term lodging online networks.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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