What is the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center?

Join the Lodgify newsletter

Once a month, get free templates, expert tips for hosts, industry news, webinar invitations, and more.

Subscribe

I agree to receive commercial communications from Lodgify.

How it works

STRAC operates as a public website offering a collection of free resources. Users can access economic impact studies, data on tourism trends, and case studies of successful regulatory approaches in other municipalities.

The platform provides toolkits for grassroots organizing, which include guides for forming local alliances, communicating with elected officials, and engaging with the media. It also serves as a directory, helping to connect individual hosts and managers with established advocacy groups in their region to foster collaboration and share strategies.

Why it matters

STRAC matters because it democratizes advocacy, providing individual hosts and small property management companies with the high-quality data and professional resources typically accessible only to large corporations or lobbying firms. By offering data-backed arguments and organizational templates, it helps create a unified and informed voice for the industry during local policy debates.

This support is crucial for ensuring that regulations are reasonable, protecting property rights, and maintaining the viability of short-term rentals as a key component of the tourism sector.

Examples

• A property owner in a city considering new rental restrictions uses STRAC's data on tourism spending and economic impact to prepare a presentation for a city council meeting.
• A group of hosts planning to form a new local alliance downloads a toolkit from STRAC that provides a step-by-step guide on organizing, recruiting members, and creating a communication plan.
• A property manager facing a proposed ban on non-owner-occupied rentals finds case studies on STRAC's website detailing how other communities have implemented successful permit and tax systems as alternatives.
• A host wants to write an opinion piece for a local newspaper and uses STRAC's talking points and research reports to craft a persuasive, fact-based article about the benefits of responsible renting.