How many short-term vacation rentals are there in Sedona? That’s a question that has been batted around for three years, with the answer varying depending upon who you ask. 

The overall consensus is that there are around 1,000 within the Sedona area. To see if that’s true, the city of Sedona has entered into a one-year contract with a company that will not only track the number of rentals — which has been done in the past — but will also handle compliance and complaint calls. Lodging Revs will provide this service in 2020 at a cost of $41,000. 

 “We decided to look at who else is out there doing this type of work,” City Manager Justin Clifton said. “That’s why we went with Lodging Revs. They didn’t have a big presence in Arizona but it seemed as though the work they did was good.”

Earlier this year, Arizona Rep. Bob Thorpe [R-District 6] met before a packed house in Sedona to discuss the topic of short-term vacation rentals. During that meeting staff said that the city does not appear to have a problem when it comes to “party” houses. To that the crowd let out a loud gasp.

“That was the first indi­cator that there may be problems people are expe­riencing that we’re just not aware of,” Clifton said. 
 Similar to the last city vendor, Lodging Revs will scrub the online market places to narrow down the number of vacation rentals in the area. 

“There’s a lot of confusion as to how many there are,” he said. “I’ve now seen numbers as high as 30% of households. I’ve also seen the number of 1,000 thrown around.”

Clifton said when coming up with a number, it’s not just as simple as going on the various vacation rental websites and adding them all together. That’s because many homeowners adver­tise on various sites. It’s also a matter of eliminating timeshares and even hotels that advertise on those websites.

To make things even more complicated when determining how big of an issue this may be, no figures were taken before the signing of Senate Bill 1350, which allowed short-term vacation rentals throughout the state and prohibited cities and coun­ties from regulating them. Prior to that, the practice was banned in Sedona but was still prevalent.

During daytime hours, residents often call the city’s code enforcement department to report a short-term vacation rental issue. If it’s off hours, they call the police depart­ment or even a Sedona City Council member. But Clifton said with a system like that it’s difficult to wrap one’s arms around the types of complaints and just how many there may be.

Lodging Revs will create a hotline number that will be distributed to residents who can call to report a complaint about a short-term rental. The company will then keep a log of all the calls received and the outcome.

“This enables us to address this unique issue,” Clifton said. “You don’t call this number if you have other issues such as vegeta­tion obstructing signs or your neighbors are using the wrong paint color. This is a number for just short-term rental issues. We want to make it clear and easy for people to engage and to let us know what the prob­lems are.”

The database for this program is currently being constructed, which will take four to six weeks. Letters will be sent out to the vacation rental owners listing what information they must provide such as emergency contact infor­mation and their taxpayer identification number, which is now required under House Bill 2672.

Once a call is placed to the hotline, a staff member will contact the home’s owner or designee in order to remedy the issue with the renter. With certain time-sensitive calls, the hotline operator will also contact the police depart­ment, Clifton said. The complainant will then be able to give their name and number and request a return call after the homeowner/designee is contacted. Fines up to $2,500 could then be levied against the homeowner.

“We can hold the owner responsible, which I think we’d only do in good faith,” Clifton said. “If an owner says I’m willing to do anything to try and make sure their tenants are quiet and reasonable and we can see that, I don’t believe we’re going to be heavy handed. But for those who advertise that it’s a great place to party or are negligent in responding to issues, I don’t think we’d hesitate to use that authority and issue a citation.”

In terms of determining the number of vacation rentals, Clifton said they will continue to monitor across the broader Sedona area, including the Village of Oak Creek and Oak Creek Canyon. The intent is to advertise the hotline within Sedona city limits only. That’s primarily because they can only take action on a complaint within the incorporated boundaries.

“We’ve discussed reaching out to both coun­ties to see if they would like us to refer calls we may get to a specific department within their organization as I accept some people may get a hold of the number and use it,” he said. “But the caller and the prop­erty that is the subject of whatever complaint will be identified as within or outside of city limits when they call. The most we are prepared to do with those outside city limits is refer them to the county. That could change in the future but for now that’s how we’re setting it up.”