DENVER and HOLLYWOOD, Fla., May 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Granicus, the leading provider of cloud-based civic engagement technologies and services, today announced a partnership with Hollywood, Florida to help manage short-term rental (STR) compliance. Hollywood will leverage Granicus’ Host Compliance product to improve registration and enforcement for its booming vacation rental market, create revenue to fund enforcement, and reduce impacts to the quality of life for Hollywood residents.
Located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic coast of Florida, Hollywood is a popular vacation destination. Many tourists opt to stay in vacation rentals listed on sites like VRBO and Airbnb, rather than local hotels. This creates a variety of challenges for the city, including concerns from the hotel industry and neighborhood impacts that can flourish without strict short-term rental enforcement. These impacts range from parking issues to overflowing garbage carts and noise complaints—straining Hollywood’s response resources and impacting the quality of life for its permanent residents.
To address these challenges, the Hollywood City Commission recently approved changes to the existing Vacation Rental License Program Ordinance, requiring all vacation rentals city-wide to be registered with the city, in addition to obtaining a state license, and compliant with requirements like parking and occupancy limitations, trash collections, and liability insurance. The city strengthened its noise ordinance and now requires all vacation rentals be equipped with noise level detection devices. When only a small fraction of the city’s thousands of rentals registered accordingly, Hollywood’s local government knew they needed a technology solution to improve compliance. Already a Granicus customer of nine years, Hollywood once again turned to the Granicus Civic Engagement Platform to meet this emerging challenge.
Host Compliance works by using artificial intelligence (AI) to scan more than 60 STR sites—including VRBO, Airbnb, and FlipKey—to identify property addresses. This provides cities with full visibility into their local vacation rental market, prevents owners from bypassing local regulations, and ultimately streamlines compliance and tax collection. Granicus also offers a 24/7 non-emergency hotline to allow residents to report concerns, like excessive noise, without tying up emergency resources.
“Tourism is a vital industry for our city—but it can’t come at the expense of quality of life for our permanent residents,” said Andria Wingett, Assistant Director of Development Services, which includes code compliance. “We have a robust, and growing, short-term rental market in Hollywood; monitoring its growth and fluctuation month-to-month is a gargantuan undertaking. We needed a solution that could do the heavy lifting, and help us create a welcoming and safe environment for both visitors and permanent residents. With its unparalleled experience, AI-powered solution, and 24/7 hotline, Host Compliance delivered on all fronts.”
Prior to working with Granicus, just 250 of Hollywood’s vacation rentals were registered with the city. Host Compliance has now identified more than 4,000 rental units—an increase of more than 3,750 units. Looking ahead, the AI-powered solution will monitor the city’s STR market to boost registration, ensure compliance, streamline tax collection, and protect quality of life.
“Administering short-term rental regulation is an incredibly complex challenge for cities,” said Ulrik Binzer, founder of Host Compliance, now owned by Granicus. “Without an automated technology solution to help, it’s nearly impossible for cities to keep a pulse on the constantly changing and evolving local short-term rental market, and preempt and address the quality of life issues that can arise as a result of residential properties being used for tourist accommodations. At Granicus, we take pride in helping cities like Hollywood enjoy the benefits of a booming sharing economy, while preventing the negative side-effects that so often accompany it.”
In addition to Hollywood, over 350 local and state governments look to Host Compliance products to gain full visibility into their local STR markets, improve compliance and minimize the negative effects of unregulated vacation rentals. To learn more about how Granicus can help your community, visit our Host Compliance site.
About Granicus
Granicus connects governments with the people they serve by providing the first and only civic engagement platform for the public sector. Over 4,500 federal, state and local government agencies and more than 250 million citizen subscribers power an unmatched Subscriber Network that turns government missions into quantifiable results. With comprehensive cloud-based solutions for communications, government website design, meeting and agenda management software, records management, and digital services, Granicus empowers stronger relationships between government and citizens.
About Hollywood, FL
Hollywood, FL is a beachfront community located in the heart of South Florida between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Founded in 1925, Hollywood is approximately 30 square miles in size and has a population of just over 150,000 residents. Hollywood is home to more than 60 parks, seven golf courses, seven miles of pristine beaches, and the one-of-a-kind Hollywood Beach Broadwalk, an award-winning promenade that stretches nearly 2.5 miles along the Atlantic Ocean. Hollywood is a dynamic business hub offering convenient access to two international airport and serves as the home to Port Everglades, one of the world’s busiest cruise and shipping ports.
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