Replay: Political Action, Lobbying, and Fundraising for Vacation Rental Property Managers

Webinar Replay: VRMA and Rent Responsibly

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Recap:

In this webinar by Rent Responsibly and the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA), Nick Scarci, director of state and local government affairs at VRMA, Rolf Blizzard, managing partner at Atlantic Realty of the Outer Banks, and Alexa Nota, COO at Rent Responsibly, discuss ways to use political action to advocate for the vacation rental industry at different levels of government.

Political action means engaging with elected officials, staff, or the government at large to achieve some type of goal that you have.

Here are the top 10 takeaways from their discussion:

1. The main regulatory challenges that vacation rental property managers face are caps, zoning restrictions, commercial taxation, bans, or de facto bans.

2. Build relationships early on, before the stakes are high.

“We mainly focus on the reactive side, where something has happened, and we need to rise to the occasion to defeat something or support something that just kind of came out of the blue. And we’ll speak at council meetings, we’ll write letters, maybe you’re even getting involved in elections,” Nick said. “But we can also do things that are more proactive or take a little more of a positive spin on this, like taking an elected official out for a coffee or just having a meeting with them to talk about the industry, perhaps volunteering on someone’s campaign that you believe is really supportive of the industry, maybe just sending out an update on the local industry.”

3. Build a political network by identifying and partnering with political allies. Find partners who have similar interests. Anyone in the hospitality space could be suitable, including hoteliers when you have common interests.

“Anytime you have a group of people with a common interest, and you can pull all of their resources together and have a unified message, it’s gonna be much more powerful than if you have 10 different property managers spending their money in 10 different ways with 10 different messages,” Nick said.

4. Compose an “elevator pitch.” As the name implies, an elevator pitch takes about as long as an elevator ride, and if you happen to be in an elevator with a lawmaker, that might be all the time you have to get your message across. For example, vacation rentals have continued to be an incredibly important part of our local economy. Then, give specific examples about how vacation rentals are contributing to your local economy.

5. Find an audience for your elevator pitch, but rely on authenticity to make your audience more receptive to what you have to say. Some of the basic choices are the chamber of commerce, other local business groups, community groups, and others who can see the bigger picture of how the vacation rental industry fits into the community. Also make your pitch during personal conversations with individuals in the community to increase support and understanding about the industry.

6. Hire a lobbyist to increase your access to inside information and decision makers, but make sure you vet them properly to make sure they can be an effective advocate for you.

7. If you decide to make political contributions, hire an attorney and stay informed about specific state laws on fundraising and contributions.

8. Be cautious about supporting specific candidates. If your candidate loses the election, you need to consider your ability to work with the winner in the future.

9. Consider spending your money on information campaigns. If there is erroneous information about vacation rentals, correct that misinformation. Seek funding from the VRMA Advocacy Fund to do specific economic studies, or use your political network to fund a study.

10. Stay active even when there are no vacation rental regulatory threats on the horizon.

“Political action and engagement, advocacy, and lobbying are a constant effort; it is not a one-time thing, and you will see compounding benefits slowly over time,” said Alexa Nota, COO of Rent Responsibly. “The ordinance process will always come back again, councils will always turn over, and legislators will always turn over. So we as advocates have to be in it for the long haul.”

Helpful Resources:

Advocacy Resources:

Rent Responsibly Advocacy Resources Library >
Search for alliances in your area in our Alliance Directory >
Replay: Regulations 101: How They’re Made >
Access our Ultimate Guide: Building a Self-Sustainable Short-Term Rental Alliance >
For help starting or growing an alliance, schedule a consult with Dana Lubner, Rent Responsibly’s Director of Community Development here >
If you’re an alliance leader, join Rent Responsibly’s Slack and Facebook communities created exclusively for you: Slack > | Facebook Group >
Learn more about VRMA Advocate and the Advocacy Fund >
Explore the VRMA’s Advocacy Toolkit >

News and Case Studies:

Rolf Blizzard’s 7 Cs of Advocacy:

1 and 2: Conscious Commitment
3 and 4: Credible Communication
5: Coalitions
6: Courtship
7: Chess, Not Checkers

About the Panelists:

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