The exact number of short-term vacation rentals in the greater Sedona area may never be known. But like an onion, the city is in the process of peeling back each layer to try to find as close to an actual figure as possible.

Not only is the short-term vacation rental practice a fluid one, there is no data on how popular the practice was prior to the passing of Senate Bill 1350 nearly two years.

Before its passing, it was against city code to rent a house for less than 30 days. Last summer the city signed a contract with STR Helper, a firm specializing in the area of short-term vacation rental data gathering. The $20,000 contract represents one year of software access, which would commence when the city is comfortable that the tool is providing the data it needs. STR Helper is also addressing the issues of timeshares, bed and breakfasts and duplicate listings, which has added to the difficulty of finding an exact number.

“This changing vacation economy and the proliferation of websites focused on short-term residential property rentals has led to a local rental dynamic that the city believes requires additional data to fully understand,” Assistant City Manager Karen Osburn said in August.

“While state law prohibits the city from regulating short-term rental activity, the city is still interested in getting a better handle on how this activity is impacting the community and the local economy.”

Over the last two years since becoming legal, there’s been a proliferation of short-term vacation listings that has lead to a lack of available and affordable rentals in Sedona. As a result, many long-term renters have lost their homes. And while the city is not in the business of being landlords, the issue is a great concern of the Sedona City Council, which has made the topic a high priority.

Over the past year, the figure of 1,100 short-term vacation rentals in Sedona, the Village of Oak Creek and Oak Creek Canyon has been used by many. While interested in the overall number, the city is also seeking the number of short-term rentals that could also be used as long-term rentals, which would exclude timeshares and bed and breakfasts. As of last week, in the Sedona area there were 1,458 short-term listings, while within city limits it was 1,138. Now is where things begin to get a bit complicated according to Megan McRae, the city’s management analyst.

Those 1,458 rentals represent a total of 612 parcels while 492 parcels make up the city’s 1,138 listings. But with the tool provided by STR Helper, the city can see the number of listings that fall within those parcels. For example, the city now knows that 201 timeshare units at Sedona Summit are being advertised online with another 86 units at Wyndham and 43 at Los Abrigados. But on paper they represent just three parcels.   

“I think these are legitimate numbers with the caveat that there are timeshares, bed and breakfasts, multiplex units and possible duplicate listings included in those figures,” McRae said.

Adding to the numbers conundrum are those who may be renting out a guest house and then either rooms or their entire home. It’s listed as one parcel on paper but multiple rental listings online.

“We have to find a way to determine our definition of a short-term rental,” McRae said. “If it’s a single-family home that has three listings that are legitimately three different portions of the home, do we count those as one or three?”

In addition, many homeowners advertise with more than one company specializing in vacation rentals. STR’s software helps to discern those multiple listings. The bottom line is, it’s far more complicated coming up with a figure than simply adding together the number of listings on websites like AirBnB, Home Away and VRBO.

Currently, cities in Arizona have no regulatory say in terms of short-term vacation rentals, even though homeowners associations can ban them. Being that their hands are tied, how does the city intend to use these figures once it has them in hand?

“It allows us to determine what the impacts are in various areas of our community,” she said.

“It would then support future legislative efforts.”

Until SB 1350 was signed, Sedona was one of just a handful of cities in the state that banned short-term rentals. Mayor Sandy Moriarty is trying to get the backing of the League of Arizona Cities & Towns to push for legislation next year to give municipalities a bit more control over short-term rentals, even if banning the practice is no longer an option.

One way the city had hoped to get a handle on the number of rentals was by passing an ordinance requiring short-term home owners to obtain a business license. However, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office slapped the city with a SB 1487 violation deeming that it’s unfair to require a business license for short-term homeowners since it isn’t required of long-term rental home owners. The city later rescinded the ordinance.