While vacation home rentals have long been available in Florida, the option to list available units online through advertising platforms has caused this lodging sector to explode by more than 50,000 units across the Central Florida region. Florida’s statutes need to be updated to ensure that all of Florida’s public lodging establishments provide safe and quality experiences for their guests and communities - without infringing on the rights of local governments or unduly burdening vacation rental owners and rental platforms.
Florida also ranks as the third highest state for human trafficking cases in the United States. Each year, thousands are trafficked in the United States, and traffickers often rely on businesses to sustain their operations. Recently, traffickers have begun to utilize vacation home rentals for their criminal activity. With millions of visitors coming to our state each year, Florida’s hospitality industry must serve as a leader in the fight to combat human trafficking, and it is critical that our industry continues to raise awareness through education and training.
This session, CFHLA strongly supported the following:
- Requiring initiatives that ensure vacation home rentals on advertising platforms also practice the same safety standards as traditional lodging to protect visitors and their experience. These standards include but are not limited to: human trafficking awareness, training and prevention, regular health and safety standards and inspections, pool safety and drowning prevention, hygiene, and cleaning procedures, as well as mandatory occupancy requirements to protect visitors and their experience.
- Requiring advertising platforms to confirm the licensing/registration of vacation home rentals with the State Department of Revenue and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation prior to listing.
- Requiring advertising platforms to collect and remit all taxes.
- Requiring advertising platforms to list the vacation rental license number on the
advertisement of the units.
- Allowing local governments the option to establish a robust local registration system for vacation rentals.
- Requiring the proper homeowners and commercial insurance coverage.
- Requiring advertising platforms to confirm licensure of units being advertised and protect consumers from fraudulent transactions.
- Reasonable and effective penalty provisions for noncompliance, such as higher monetary penalties and vacation rental license revocation provisions; and
- Clear and consistent audit provisions to allow for accurate assessment of compliance.
