The Daily Catch

Airbnb Owners Plead Their Case: “Keep STRs Alive in Red Hook”



Interior view of a home offered in Red Hook (photo from the Airbnb hosting platform)

They’ve made renovations to attract guests. They are using the income to pay property and school taxes. They are proud to host visiting Bard families. And they want the Red Hook Town government out of their hair. 

These were among the explanations and pleas uttered Wednesday morning by seven Airbnb property owners at the weekly meeting of the Town of Red Hook’s Economic Development Committee. In raw, emotional and specific ways, the owners stated their case against a plan by another town committee to shut down most short-term rentals (STRs) in the Town.

“How did the whole issue of restricting Airbnbs start?” said Bob Skypala, the owner of an Airbnb on Route 9 near Kidd Lane.“I find this kind of behavior from the government unnerving. I don’t understand. It’s an overreach..”

Mat Zucker, who said he discovered Red Hook after spending a night at an Airbnb in town, concurred. “Our posture should be about welcoming. How do we welcome people into the town whether they are here for a day or a month? Maybe there’s more we should be doing, not less.”

For more than an hour, owners shared their stories with the EDC — how they got involved in hosting short-term rentals, what they get out of it, and how they believe the community benefits.

EDC research found that 35 percent of local Red Hook businesses believe the tourists are staying in short-term rentals (screen shot of EDC presentation Wednesday, June 16, 2021)

“I just don’t understand the negatives,” said Sarah Carlson, owner of The Crows Nest, a new home goods shop in town and also an STR operator. “What is it based on? This is a win-win in my assessment.” 

The proposal of the powerful Intermunicipal Task Force (ITF) calls for the prohibition of all unhosted STRs in residential districts with 1- and 1.5- acre zoning. The ITF also seeks to abolish hosted STRs in more densely populated areas, arguing they interfere with the maintenance of quality neighborhoods. Two members of the ITF — Bill Hamel and ITF chair William O’Neill — sit on the Town Board, raising concerns that their voting on the issue is a conflict of interest. “I don’t understand how that’s kosher,” said Carlson. 

The EDC, meanwhile, is preparing its own proposal and plans to present it to the Town Board by early July. The EDC seeks to allow hosted and un-hosted STRs in all districts. 

The discussion Wednesday centered on a range of concerns. Some Airbnb operators argued that they badly need the extra income earned from their short-term rentals to pay the high local property and school taxes in Red Hook. Gabriel Guccione, a retired real estate appraiser who now relies largely on Social Security and income from his Airbnb listing, said all his income from his Airbnb pays school and town taxes. 

Other speakers argued for the benefits of tourism. “They are a huge recruiting opportunity,” added Zucker. “I was relieved to see the (EDC) counter-proposal that doesn’t have those incredibly harsh restrictions, which are a real turnoff.”

Several STR hosts were simply confused why the Town would want to legislate an issue that has presented no discernible problems. “I just don’t understand the negatives. What is it (the ITF proposal) based on?” said Carlson. 

Skypala, who bought a home in Tivoli some years ago and operated it for years as rental housing for Bard students, said he views the ITF’s prescriptions as a threat that punishes entrepreneurial spirit. “This country is built on risk-reward… Now they’re trying to take my reward away. It’s super disheartening. This is going to be the Land of Non-Opportunity if they overreach like this,” he said. 

Skypala, whose primary residence is on Long Island, also noted that the renovations Airbnb hosts make to their rental properties sustain contractors and daily maintenance supports housekeepers. Skypala estimates he spends roughly $30,000 a year hiring local contractors to maintain his property, and he said he spent more than $150,000 with local contractors to renovate the property to make it more suitable and desirable to Airbnb guests. “All that money stays local,” he said. 

Several speakers also noted the lack of lodging in the Town of Red Hook, a deficit Airbnbs are helping to fill. Other nearby communities that have restricted Airbnbs have large hotel or motel offerings. Rhinebeck, for instance, has the Beekman Arms and Delamater Inn, with 80 rooms, and its nearby Village Inn Property with 17 rooms.

Both the ITF and EDC  agree that STRs should be regulated and required to meet health and safety standards, including fire precautions. They also concur, generally, on the benefits of a permitting process so STR owners are registered with the Town in the event of complaints. Of note, according to EDC committee member Vanessa Shafer, only one complaint has been registered with the Town in the past four years. 

In fact, the ITF proposal comes at a time when the number of STRs has been declining in Red Hook. There are, by the EDC’s latest count, just 49 STR listings on websites like Airbnb and HomeAway. That number has dwindled from a high of 70 three years ago, when the ITF began examining the issue. According to research the EDC has conducted, just 29 of those 49 listings are outside the villages of Red Hook and Tivoli, which would make their own regulations on STRs. Just nine listings are currently unhosted, representing some 50 bedrooms.  

Kristina Dousharm, a local architect and chair of the EDC, says the committee’s recommendation will be crafted around evidence and data, not fear. In April, the group emailed a survey questionnaire to the Town’s 175 businesses. The results point to a local economy reliant on tourism dollars: merchants reported that 13 percent of their business comes from out-of-towners staying in STRs, and businesses believe over 35 percent of their customers use STRs, Dousharm noted. Meanwhile, 26 percent of respondents agreed  that “a lack of local lodging affects business.”

STRs have kept several owners and managers afloat during lean pandemic times. When the pandemic hit, for instance, Denise Sullivan lost work at  her primary employer, the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, and pivoted to managing local Airbnb properties and was able to stay financially afloat.

To counteract the concern that STRs burden neighbors, the EDC is mounting a petition campaign, seeking the signatures of residents who live near STRs to vouch for the respectability of the rentals and their owners.   

Town Supervisor Robert McKeon has signaled a willingness to examine the ITF proposal shortly. Any proposed bill will require a public hearing first.

One response to “Airbnb Owners Plead Their Case: “Keep STRs Alive in Red Hook””

  1. Claire Horst says:

    The Intermunicipal Task Force was never meant to be a powerful group. It obviously “morphed” into one over the years.
    Is it ethical for the Town Board members who are on the ITF to vote on this issue? Does it give the “appearance of impropriety”?If so, the Ethics Committee might have to weigh in.

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