Latest news with #VRBO
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New hotel tax proposal targets downtown Chicago
Chicago now applies the state Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax (HOOT) to short‑term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO, effective 1 July 2025. Hosts must pay a 6% tax on 94% of gross rental receipts, adding to existing state and municipal lodging taxes. Meanwhile, the city's tourism board, Choose Chicago, is backing a proposed Tourism Improvement District that would push the hotel tax for large downtown hotels to 18.9%, raising Chicago's already-high lodging tax to top national levels. Why short‑term rentals now face state lodging tax From July 1, 2025, Illinois law extends the 6% Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax to short‑term rentals, calculated on 94% of their gross income. Previously reserved for hotels, this tax now covers all short‑term rentals under 30 days. Hosts—not platforms—are responsible for remittance, but may pass the tax to guests. The tax complements existing assessments, such as the Chicago city tax of 4.5% plus a 6% surcharge, Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority tax, and Illinois Sports Facilities Authority levy, all applied to STRs. Tourism improvement district would raise hotel tax to 18.9% Choose Chicago has announced plans for a Tourism Improvement District (TID) targeting hotels of at least 100 rooms within defined downtown zip codes. The proposal would introduce an extra 1.5 percentage points on top of the current 17.4% hotel tax, lifting it to 18.9%. Funds would support destination marketing, global media campaigns, convention bidding incentives and event promotion—aimed at reinforcing Chicago's competitive edge. How Chicago compares with other convention cities At 17.4% today, Chicago already holds one of the highest hotel tax rates among US convention-focused cities. With the additional TID charge, the rate would reach 18.9%, potentially the highest nationally. Supporters argue the extra revenue—estimated at over $50 million annually—could boost marketing budgets to levels closer to those of Las Vegas and New York, where tourism boards enjoy significantly larger funding. However, some hoteliers and meeting planners caution that the higher cost could deter business, though the tourism board believes incentives would offset any negative impact. Looking ahead Chicago has tightened rules on short‑term rentals by extending state lodging taxes and is moving to further elevate hotel tax rates downtown. For Airbnb and VRBO hosts, the HOOT extension means higher operating costs that may be passed to guests. For hotel operators and visitors alike, the proposed Tourism Improvement District could raise room rates but aims to bolster marketing and convention attraction. As public hearings and council votes loom, the city weighs revenue gains against affordability and competitiveness in the hospitality market. "New hotel tax proposal targets downtown Chicago" was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
12-07-2025
- Forbes
Scammers Are Out To Ruin Your Vacation- Here's How To Stop Them
Young woman on the beach phoning the bank for credit card support getty It is July and many of us are happily looking forward to the summer vacations that we look forward to all year, however, scammers are looking forward to scamming us with a variety of scams that can ruin your vacation.. Here are some common vacation scams to avoid. HR Department Email This scam starts with an email that appears to come from your company's HR Department luring you to click on a link to submit your request for vacation time. Clicking on the link can either cause you to download dangerous malware that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft or luring you into providing your online credentials at work in order to get access to your company's computers and data. How to Avoid Never click on a link or provide personal information in response to an email or text message unless you have confirmed that the communication is legitimate. Scammers use email addresses that may appear to be legitimate, and it is easy for a scammer to make a text message appear as if it is coming from a trusted phone. If you get a communication that appears to come from your HR department, contact them directly through an email or phone number that you know is legitimate. Home Rental Scam Renting vacation homes rather than going to hotels has been increasingly popular in recent years. There are many excellent websites such as VRBO and Homeaway that offer wonderful vacation homes. Many people will also go to Craigslist and other similar sites. These websites can be easy and efficient ways to find a great vacation home. Unfortunately, they are also a great way for scam artists to steal money from unwary people looking for a vacation home. The scam generally starts with a listing that looks quite legitimate and there is a good reason for that. The listing is often a real online listing that has been copied by the scammer who merely inserts his or her name and contact information. The price is usually very low which attracts a lot of potential renters. The potential renters are sometimes told that the owner is out of the country and that there are many people interested in the property so if the tenant wants to be considered for renting it, the tenant has to wire money to the landlord somewhere outside of the country. Wiring money is a preferred method of payment for scammers because it is all but impossible for the victim to get their money back once they realize they have been scammed. How to Avoid There are a number of red flags to look for in vacation home rental scams. First, as always, if the price is too good to be true, it usually is just that - not true. Also be wary of landlords who are out of the country. Never send your payment by a wire transfer, cryptocurrency, Zelle, Venmo or a cashier's check. Use a credit card, PayPal or any other payment system from which you can retrieve your funds if the transaction is fraudulent. It is usually best to deal with websites that specialize in vacation homes, but you must remember that they cannot possibly monitor every listing to ensure that it is legitimate. A simple way to determine if the listing is a scam is to check out who really is the owner by going online to the tax assessor's office of the city or town where the property is located and look up who the real owner is. If it doesn't match the name of the person attempting to rent you the home, you should not go through with the rental. Also Google the name of the owner with the word "scam" next to his or her name and see if anything comes up. Hotel Room Service Some scams are just so simple and effective that they remind us why scam artists are indeed the only criminals we refer to as artists. An old scam that is still being used effectively by scammers involves a flyer under the door to your hotel room that purportedly is an advertisement for a local pizza parlor. The flyer gives a telephone number for the pizza parlor which will conveniently deliver to your room All you need to do is call the number, give them a credit card and they will promptly send you your fresh pizza or other food. Unfortunately, it is a scam. The scammers have gone through the hotel and put their flyers under the doors. They then just wait for the telephone calls and steal your credit card number. How to Avoid A good rule to follow is not to order any food from a restaurant that puts flyers under the door of your hotel or motel room. In regard to the pizza parlor or other restaurant you can confirm online or even with a quick call to the clerk at the front desk as to whether the particular restaurant described in the flyer is legitimate and whether indeed the telephone number is their actual number. Sometimes scammers use the name of a real restaurant, but substitute their own telephone number. Never order or provide your credit card unless you have independently confirmed both that the restaurant is real and the telephone number is accurate.
The Hill
10-07-2025
- The Hill
US vacation renters are wasting $2B worth of food every year: Study
Short-term rental lodgers across the United States may be wasting more than $2.3 billion in food each year, a new study has found. An average of $12 worth of uneaten groceries, takeout and restaurant leftovers are landing in the trash on a daily basis, according to the study, published in Waste Management. That sum is about equivalent to 5.1 percent of a nightly rental fee — similar to tax rates applied to lodging in many locations, per the research. 'So people are basically paying an additional lodging tax through the money they spend on food that they never eat while they're in the Airbnb,' lead author Brian Roe, a professor in agricultural economics at the Ohio State University, said in a statement. To draw their conclusions, Roe and his colleagues conducted an online survey of 502 U.S. adults who reported on their most recent trip to an Airbnb, VRBO or other short-term rental during the past year. Almost all respondents said that their stays were for vacation purposes, while just 3 percent reported taking a business trip. By combining statistical analyses with relevant national data, the researchers projected an annual estimate of up to $2.3 billion spent on food that was not consumed by the end of these vacations. Travelers tended to pay about $231 per night for lodging, generating $12 in waste food per night: $7 in groceries and $5 in items prepared elsewhere, per the study. About 80 percent of travelers reported eating at least one meal per day in the rental, and 6.3 percent said they ate in for every meal. Spending on groceries in general added up to an average of $34 per day, the data showed. When children were present at the rental, there was a greater amount of uneaten food remaining at the end of the stay, the authors found. Nearly half of the respondents said they throw away more food when traveling than they do at home, while just 21 percent reported greater food waste at home. Produce and pantry staples topped the charts of most discarded vacation groceries, according to the study. Guests reported that about 46 percent of hosts provided them with an opportunity to recycle and more than 20 percent gave instructions about what to do with uneaten food. Although food waste may currently be piling up at short-term rentals, most travelers expressed a willingness to receive information from their rental hosts about composting and donating uneaten food. 'There's some interest among travelers to try to reduce their footprints,' Roe observed. Building off that interest, the researchers suggested that local and regional short-term rental host associations could help individual hosts to include information about compost and donation options. Peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb or VRBO could also consider integrating food waste as additional criteria, alongside a publicly identifiable tag of 'sustainable hosts,' the authors noted. 'One can imagine this as a simple addition to a host's information booklet — probably a very doable implementation,' Roe said. 'And if that knocked that $2 billion number down to $1.5 billion, that's half a billion dollars less each year of wasted food,' he added.
Epoch Times
27-06-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
3 Summer Side Hustles That Are Actually Worth Doing
With the sun shining and routines loosening, summer is the right time to start a side business. However, not all side gigs are created equal. For your time, some offer little more than pocket change. Others? Aside from earning legitimate income, they can also be turned into full-blown businesses. If you're looking for a way to make extra cash without wasting your weekends on dead-end jobs, try these three summer side gigs with real earning potential and room to grow. 1. Short-Term Rentals: A Scalable Summer Side Hustle (Even Without Owning Property) In peak vacation season, Airbnb and VRBO are undeniably popular. During the summer, popular destinations experience a surge in demand, leading to impressive nightly rates. Even though owning a property is a surefire way to capitalize on this lucrative market, it's far from the only option. This side hustle is ideal for those without a spare room or house, thanks to its adaptability and flexibility.
Business Insider
23-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
We bought a rental property instead of a 'starter home.' It pays for itself, and we use it whenever we want.
For many of us, the dream of homeownership has never felt more out of reach. Sky-high interest rates, low inventory, and bidding wars have pushed prices well beyond what many can afford. In high-cost-of-living areas like New York City (where I live), the situation feels even more impossible. In May, the median sold price of homes in Manhattan was over $1.3 million. Try finding an affordable "starter home" in that market! Although the suburbs might offer better prices, my husband and I weren't ready to leave the city yet — longer commutes, less walkability, and weekends spent on lawncare didn't appeal to us. Still, by our mid-30s, we'd saved enough for a decent down payment and felt eager to get onto the property ladder. We just didn't want to sacrifice location. So instead, we made an unconventional choice — we bought our "second home" first. Instead of leaving the city, we bought a house in Lake George with plans to use it for vacation and rent it out For us, the idea started in Lake George, New York. We'd gone camping there every summer since we first started dating, and from my initial visit, it was love at first sight. We spent long weekends sleeping in a tent, grilling all our meals, and soaking in the simple pleasures of the outdoors. At some point during every trip, I always thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to own a house here someday?" Eventually, that "someday" became a serious strategy. Instead of attempting to buy a primary residence in the city, we rethought traditional homeownership and bought a vacation home first. For us, the math made sense. Since we couldn't afford to buy in NYC, we'd continue renting our primary residence there. We'd buy a property near Lake George instead, specifically in Warren County, where the median sold price was about $315,000 in May —a million dollars less than Manhattan. Plus, we hoped we could offset some costs by renting it out on Airbnb and VRBO. What happened next exceeded every expectation. So far, the home has helped us make money and memories In February 2023, we purchased a house with a mortgage and got to work on our DIY renovations to prepare it to be a rental. As longtime visitors to the area, we knew what guests were looking for — we were our own target audience. By May, our vacation home was live on Airbnb and VRBO. The house was booked for less than one-third of our first full year renting it out, but that was enough to cover all our annual expenses on the home (mortgage, utilities, insurance, maintenance, etc.). On top of that, we made a $10,000 profit. But the real payoff wasn't financial — it was personal. The house was always meant to be a "second home" for our family, an escape from city life, so we never stress when it's not booked. It's just ours to enjoy the other 274 days of the year. It was where we celebrated my daughter's first birthday; my husband hosted his best friends for their annual golf trip; and we snuggled our dog of 10 years for one last, unforgettable Christmas together before he died. Those memories are truly priceless, and we wouldn't have had them if we were still stuck waiting for the "right time" to buy. All of this has shifted our perspective on success and homeownership When we bought our "second home" first, our families thought we were nuts. To be honest, that made me question our plan myself. But after that first profitable year, I started to believe in our nontraditional strategy of homeownership. We were building equity, using rental income to pay the monthly mortgage, generating income, and making memories in a new space while still renting in the city of our dreams. The traditional path of our parents' generation — starter home, upgrade, maybe a vacation home decades later (if you're lucky) — doesn't reflect so many people's reality anymore. And that's OK. In a world where flexibility, side hustles, and meaningful time with loved ones matter more than ever, maybe it's time to flip the script.
