Orange County NC Website
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3 <br /> ECONOMICS <br /> For Orange County, Airbnb currently (12/29/2015) lists: <br /> 123 entire home rentals <br /> 140 private room rentals <br /> Total 263 in Orange County <br /> Airbnb uses the average daily rate of$83. Using an NC industry average of a 60% daily <br /> occupancy rate, we estimate 158 rooms booked per day through Airbnb at $83 equal <br /> approximately$13,000 per day in revenue: Or $4,786,610 per year in revenue which would <br /> yield a 6% occupancy tax collection of$287,196 and yield a 7.5% sales tax of$358,995 or <br /> $646,191 combined occupancy and sales tax. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> Since it was founded in 2008, Airbnb has turned the hotel industry upside down. It rakes in <br /> $500 million to $1 billion a year, Glassdoor reports. Airbnb makes money by taking a 3% cut of <br /> each booking and a 6%to 12% service fee from guests. <br /> Rapid growth of the short-term online rental marketplace created challenges for the lodging <br /> industry and the regulatory system. Short-term online rentals are rentals of residential property <br /> for a short period of time through online platforms such as Airbnb, Home Away or Flip Key. <br /> Laws currently on the books that were developed years ago for traditional lodging properties <br /> were allowing these new business models an opportunity to bypass the system and generated <br /> great concern for the North Carolina lodging community. <br /> The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association's position on the short-term online <br /> rental marketplace rests on four basic points: <br /> First, the North Carolina lodging community does not fear competition and does not seek to <br /> ban short-term online rental companies. Instead, the lodging community is concerned about <br /> inequities in the treatment of traditional lodging properties versus short-term online rentals <br /> under state and local laws, rules, and health and safety codes. Competition is a hallmark of the <br /> lodging industry. Traditional lodging properties fiercely compete against each other every day. <br /> But short-term online rental companies are avoiding paying state and local taxes and they are <br /> skirting rules and regulations meant to protect guests and communities. And that's simply not <br /> fair competition. <br /> The challenge is that the rapid evolution of these new business models is disrupting traditional <br /> models of commerce and the laws and rules that were developed years ago to regulate <br /> traditional models. Traditional lodging properties are required by law to provide a safe, <br /> sanitary and secure environment for their guests.These requirements include clean sheets and <br /> towels, hot and cold running water, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, clearly <br /> marked exits and fire escape plans, to name just a few. State law treats the rental of rooms as a <br /> retail business, triggering requirements that lodging establishments obtain appropriate <br /> business licenses and remit sales & occupancy taxes to state and local governments. The short- <br /> term online rental marketplace operates under the regulatory radar screen. While data on this <br /> marketplace is limited, every indication is that businesses in this space are operating without <br />