Nine short-term letting firms join membership body for sector

Posted by Phil Davies on

Nine short-term letting firms join membership body for sector

Airbnb, Homeaway, and UnderTheDoormat are among members of Short Term Accommodation Association Continue reading →

Airbnb, Homeaway, and UnderTheDoormat are among nine short-term letting firms to have signed up to the UK’s first membership body covering the sector.

Short Term Accommodation Association (STAA) will oversee a voluntary code of conduct that all members are committed to.

The new code encourages all hosts to ensure short-term lets match the health and safety standards present for long-term rentals, and also seeks to provide greater reassurances for guests and hosts.

The code of contains measures designed to boost consumer protection, support enforcement, maintain residential amenity and drive local business growth.

All nine members of the Short-Term Accommodation Association have signed up to the new code.

Research recently conducted by Populus on behalf of UnderTheDoormat found that doubts about the state of a home are the most off-putting thing for potential guests (49%).

But two thirds (68%) would be encouraged to stay in home rental accommodation if they were confident it was properly managed with services such as professional cleaning.

The nine providers from across the industry to have joined the association are The Air Agents, Airsorted, Airbnb, HomeAway, Lavanda, OASIS, onefinestay, SuperControl and UnderTheDoormat.

The UK’s first membership body for short term home rental businesses was formally launched by Department for Communities and Local Government parliamentary under secretary of state, Lord Bourne.

Merilee Karr, founder of UnderTheDoormat and chair of the STAA said: “The launch of the STAA and its code of conduct is an important first step in the industry driving higher professional standards and providing better-managed short term lets.

“By coming together in one membership body, UK-based organisations, such as UnderTheDoormat, and global giants, such as Airbnb, are united in their efforts to create an environment where travellers, individual homeowners, their neighbours, building owners, local authorities and the national government, can all be confident in the professional standards that drive our businesses.”