Along the Southern California coast, proposals to severely restrict short-term rentals have been spreading as if fueled by Santa Ana winds.
The city of Santa Monica, for example, passed an ordinance to ban vacation rentals, which is now being challenged in court, while Laguna Beach allows short-term rentals only in certain circumstances.
“All of the regulations happening with every city up and down the coast all stem from one thing: noise complaints from neighbors,” said Jeff Bosson, new business development director for SeaBreeze Vacation Rentals in the San Diego area.
The solution: STR Watchdog Program to address short-term rental noise issues
Jeff realized that if the vacation home rental industry wanted to survive, it would need to supercharge efforts to prevent and stop noise incidents and document when noise incidents occur. To address both of these industry needs, Jeff devised the STR Watchdog program.
Still in its pilot phase, the program deploys technology and a team of SeaBreeze employees to monitor areas with high concentrations of vacation rentals, like Newport Beach, and to respond to noise complaints at individual homes.
SeaBreeze uses noise monitoring technology from NoiseAware to receive alerts when noise exceeds a certain decibel level. The vacation rental management company pairs NoiseAware with video cameras at home entrances to document things such as how many guests have gathered at the home. If SeaBreeze receives a decibel alert from NoiseAware, employees send the guest a screenshot of their decibel level and call them to ask them to quiet down.
Currently, the STR Watchdog pilot is operating at 300 of SeaBreeze’s 400 vacation rentals but will eventually expand to serve other vacation rental companies and self-managing individual owners.
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Testing and growing the STR Watchdog program
The company has been trying out different ideas in the pilot to make the program more effective. For instance, SeaBreeze employees recently started driving around the company’s vacation rentals between 8:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. to look out for potential problems.
“That has been hugely successful in shutting down parties and anything before it can even get to the neighbors calling the city,” Jeff said.
SeaBreeze has yet to determine when it will launch the STR Watchdog program for the general public, but so far, the program has attracted interest from vacation rental companies in the region.
Vacation rental owners have been delighted with the STR Watchdog pilot, too, Jeff said.
The program has helped SeaBreeze prevent violations on Newport Island, home to a group of neighbors who have historically opposed the presence of vacation rentals, he said.
In some cases, SeaBreeze has been able to get citations from code enforcement dismissed after demonstrating with noise measurements, video footage, and testimony from employees on the ground that a violation did not occur, he said.
Jeff recommends that vacation home rental owners and management companies self-advocate in their own respective markets by using noise-monitoring systems and video cameras at their properties.
“The key is to watch that house like a hawk so that there are never any actual violations.”
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NoiseAware is a noise protection service for short term and vacation rentals. The only way to prevent a noise complaint is through proactive incident management. With NoiseAware protection, you can relax knowing that you will be immediately notified if the noise level at your property exceeds your quiet hours setting. Your neighbors will thank you.
