Truckee, El Dorado and Placer County leaders ask AirBnB to not allow rentals during Stay-at-Home order

El Dorado County, Placer County and Town of Truckee representatives have sent a letter to Airbnb, asking for assistance stopping short-term rentals (STR) during the current Stay at Home Order. They told the vacation rental booking company that their help is needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and asked them to not allow rentals in Truckee and the California side of Lake Tahoe during the order which is through at least January 1.

Governor Newsom's December 3 order states when any California region is under a Regional stay at home order, “no hotel or lodging entity in California can accept or honor out of state reservations for non-essential travel, unless the reservation is for at least the minimum time period required for quarantine and the persons identified in the reservation will quarantine in the hotel or
lodging entity until after that time period has expired. Additionally, hotels and lodging entities in a county under a Regional Stay Home Order cannot accept or honor in-state reservations for non-essential travel.”

The letter was sent by Cindy Gustafson, District 5 Supervisor of Placer County, Sue Novasel, District 5 Supervisor of El Dorado County, and Truckee Town Manager Jen Callaway. The sent it to Adam Thongsavat, program director, and Toral Patel, policy manager, of Airbnb.

Truckee has a Town Council meeting at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the adoption of an urgency ordinance that would allow the denial, suspension, or revocation of short-term rental permits for violation of public health orders, and the denial, suspension, or revocation of hotel transient occupancy registration certificates for violation of laws or public health orders.

Even with a Stay-at-Home order in place many VHRs have been renting to the public, some of them saying Airbnb wouldn't allow cancelation of reservations without a fee being charged and others not wanting to abide by the rules.

"We are asking for your help in reducing the spread of the COVID-19 virus by working with your short-term (STR) rental operators and guests to adhere to the current Regional Stay at Home Order issued by Governor Newsom on December 3, 2020," said the three officials.

Their letter to AirBnB:

We have corresponded with current Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) certificate holders to make them aware of the current restrictions. However, we know that there are still many reservations over the next two weeks through your site and other online platforms in the Tahoe-Truckee area.

We ask you to please take the following steps to help us address this issue:

1. Inform owners and guests that if they have bookings through January 1, and are not considered “essential personnel”, these reservations violate the current Stay at Home order for our area and should be cancelled. (STR operators can rent for “essential functions and travel including COVID-19 mitigation and containment measures, treatment measures, accommodation for essential workers, or housing solutions, including measures to protect homeless populations.”)

2. Work with property owners to allow for full refunds or rebooking so guests can return to our area when it is safe to do so.

3. If you are unable or unwilling to reach out to property owners directly, we ask that you work with county and town staff to help us identify noncompliant properties so we can contact those property owners.

Your support will help STR operators comply with the Order and also ensure our rural healthcare systems are not overrun during this holiday season. In addition, Placer County and the Town of Truckee are looking at options to penalize STR operators who rent their properties during this time. Your assistance will also help STR operators avoid losing their permits which will also have impacts to your
business should several operators lose the ability to rent in the future.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. This year has been challenging for us, but by working together to limit the spread and protect our resources, I hope we can return to normal soon and get back to welcoming visitors to the Tahoe-Truckee area.

Shortly after receiving the letter, Thongsavat responded, saying he had asked the Airbnb digital team to prepare an email to all hosts in Placer and El Dorado County to cover the items outlined in the above letter.

"Thank you for connecting us and ensuring we’re working collaboratively on this important matter. We really appreciate it," said Thongsavat in his emailed reply.