Advocacy Toolkits
Always-free templates, checklists, guides, downloads, and more to help you advocate for your short-term rental, start or grow an advocacy group, and protect your right to rent responsibly.
How to Do Everything
(OK MAYBE NOT EVERYTHING, BUT A LOT.)
The Ultimate Guide:
Building a Self-Sustainable Short-Term Rental Alliance
INSIDE:
- The Tools to Make Your Vision a Reality
- Recruiting Members, Building a Leadership Team, and Creating Partnerships
- Knowing Your Decision-Makers and How to Make Sure They Hear You
- Building Community & Keeping Members Engaged
The Event-in-a-Box Toolkit:
Hosting Great Short-Term Rental Alliance Events
INSIDE:
- Key considerations and foundational to-dos before the event train leaves the station
- Customizable timelines for in-person and virtual event planning
- Strategies for driving event attendance
- Downloadable checklists, templates and SOPs
The 501 (c) (6) How-To:
Becoming an Incorporated Nonprofit Trade Association
INSIDE:
- The fundamentals of what it means to be a 501(c)(6) organization
- Pre-filing preparations and things to consider
- 10 Steps to Become a 501(c)(6)
- Why file for 501(c)(6)
- How to maintain your 501(c)(6) status
Fundraising Strategies
How to Raise Money for Your Short-Term Rental Alliance
Make Your Voice Heard
Public Comment 101: Effective Written and Spoken Testimonies
Advocate Toolkits + Resources
FOR ADVOCATES:
⭐ Indicates premium resources available for free in the RR Network, our private community designed exclusively for hosts and advocates!
Navigating Governments
- Regulations 101: A primer on how short-term rental rules are made
- Public Records: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Sunshine Law Requests for Short-Term Rental Advocacy
- Glossary: Important Short-Term Rental, Government, and Legal Terms
- Conflicting Regulations: Navigating overlap in state, county, local, and neighborhood rules ⭐
Advocacy Guides
- Replay: Political Action, Lobbying, and Fundraising for Vacation Rental Property Managers
- Public Comment 101: Effective Written and Spoken Testimonies
- Data: Short-Term Rental Data for Advocacy and Where to Get It
- Media 101: Talking to Reporters about Short-Term Rentals
- How-to: 5 Tips for Getting Your Letter to the Editor or Op-Ed Published
- Storytelling: Using the Inverted Pyramid in Advocacy Messaging ⭐
FOR ALLIANCE AND ASSOCIATION LEADERS:
⭐ Indicates premium resources available for free in the RR Network, our private community designed exclusively for hosts and advocates!
Advocacy Essentials
- Popular: Top 10 short-term rental advocacy resources and how to use them
- Playbook: Public Records: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Sunshine Law Requests for Short-Term Rental Advocacy
- Playbook: Short-Term Rental Data for Advocacy and Where to Get It
- Playbook: Media 101: Talking to Reporters about Short-Term Rentals
- Playbook: 5 Tips for Getting Your Letter to the Editor or Op-Ed Published
- Storytelling: Using the Inverted Pyramid in Advocacy Messaging ⭐
Advocacy Strategy
Case Studies
- Case Studies: Affordable housing vs. STRs: What does the data say?
- The Power of Language: Vacation rental semantics and why they matter
- Case Study: How 1999’s NC Vacation Rental Act is a Model for Today’s Regulations
- Case Study: Effecting positive change in vacation rental ordinances in Fort Pierce, Florida
- Case Study: Defeating Colorado Senate Bill 33 STR Property Tax Bill
- Case Study: How Portland short-term rental hosts earned a seat on the city’s DMO board
Engagement + Marketing
FOR ALLIANCE AND ASSOCIATION LEADERS:
⭐ Indicates premium resources available for free in the RR Network, our private community designed exclusively for hosts and advocates!
Growing Your Organization
- Leader Seminar Recap: Building Irresistible Member Benefits ⭐
- Playbook: How to run a #GivingTuesday campaign for your short-term rental organization
- Leader Seminar Recap: Membership Sales
- Playbook: How to raise money for your short-term rental alliance
- Replay: Nonprofit 101: Level up to 501(c)(6) Status
Member Engagement
Strengthening Your Board
- Replay: Inspire & Ignite: Stoke Your Team’s Fire and Avoid Burnout
- Playbook: Board Strategy Meeting Guide ⭐
- Must-read: 6 must-read books for alliance leaders ⭐
- Playbook: Guide to a Successful Alliance Board
FEATURED
State of the STR Industry Report 2024
The latest data and trends on STR hosts and managers, tech, operations, regulations, and more – plus the take of more than 2,000 local policymakers on STRs in their communities.
Housing & Economic Impact Studies
National Reports
The Real Drivers of Housing Affordability: An assessment of the role of vacation rentals (2024)
Barron, Kung, & Proserpio: The Effect of Home-Sharing on House Prices and Rents: Evidence from Airbnb (2020)
The Drivers of Housing Affordability: An assessment of the role of short-term rentals (2019)
Local Reports & Case Studies
HR&A: Colorado Short Term Rental Impact Study (2022)
Western Mountain Resort Alliance: Economic and Workforce Housing Impacts of STRs (2024)
Summit Alliance Vacation Rental Managers: State of Vacation Rental Industry Report (2024)
Regulatory News
Montana Supreme Court declines to fast-track second-home tax challenge
A closely watched legal challenge to Montana’s new second-home tax will proceed through the lower courts after the Montana Supreme Court declined to take up the case on an emergency basis.
In a March 31, 2026, order, the Court rejected a petition from Gov. Greg Gianforte to bypass the normal judicial process and bring the constitutional question directly before the state’s highest court. Instead, the justices ruled that the case should continue through the district court, where it was originally filed earlier in the year.
Spring 2026 state short-term rental bills
State legislatures nationwide are testing their power to shape the short-term rental market, targeting issues such as taxation, property rights, and local control.
Idaho governor signs bill limiting local restrictions on short-term rentals
House Bill 583 limits local governments’ ability to impose rules that single out short-term rentals for additional requirements. It also classifies short-term rentals as a “nontransient residential use” for zoning and building code purposes, an important distinction that aligns them more closely with long-term housing.
Colorado vacancy tax bill nixed in committee after advocacy effort
A bill that would have allowed Colorado communities to tax vacant homes died in committee on Feb. 9, 2026, after more than four hours of testimony and concerted opposition by short-term rental activists.
Washington bill would allow short-term rental hosts to gift guests a joint
House Bill 2639, sponsored by Rep. Melanie Morgan, would permit short-term rental hosts to provide each guest age 21 or older with one free prerolled cannabis product containing up to one gram of marijuana. The annual permit fee would be $75 and would apply to all properties owned or operated by a host.
From Sundance to the Olympics, cities test event-only short-term rental permits
For years, many U.S. cities treated short-term rentals as a problem to be contained or eliminated altogether. But as high-stakes global events are poised to overwhelm their limited hotel capacity, a growing number of jurisdictions that severely restricted or banned short-term rentals have changed their tune. They’re testing a hybrid model that temporarily allows short-term rentals only for major events like the Sundance Film Festival, the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the Olympics.