Orange Beach Airbnb Rules Draw Pushback as Rental Managers Seek City Ordinances

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Local vacation rental managers planned to ask the Orange Beach City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to respond to new Airbnb rules they say would put locally owned companies at a disadvantage, urging the city to adopt ordinances that would apply to every short-term rental no matter how it is booked. The Orange Beach Airbnb rules dispute was laid out in a news release from Brandy A. Davis of Beachball Properties.

The release said managers intended to speak at the council’s joint regular and committee of the whole session, scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall, and would ask members to examine the details of Airbnb’s new host and checkout policies, which the release said take effect Nov. 20. A later account of the Nov. 3 discussion is summarized below; it did not describe any council vote or formal response.

The company behind the release has a tie to the council

The release does not come from a disinterested party. Beachball Properties, the company it was issued from, is owned by City Councilwoman Ginger Harrelson and her husband, Hunter Harrelson.

Ginger Harrelson sits on the body being asked to act. Hunter Harrelson also holds a tourism post: on Oct. 20, the same City Council chose him for a seat on the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism board, with a term running through September 2029.

The ordinances requested in the release would govern an industry in which the couple’s company is a significant player. South AL News reported in September that the business, which they opened in 2016, has grown to more than 350 properties in Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan and Perdido Key. The release did not address whether Ginger Harrelson would take part in any council discussion or vote on the request.

What the rental managers want

According to the release, Airbnb is promoting the changes as sparing guests from “chores” at checkout and easing some cleaning requirements. Davis’ release argues the bigger issue lies elsewhere.

The release states that it is not about chores and that the real story is in the fine print.

The release says hosts will no longer be allowed to require a guest ID, a signed rental agreement or guest contact information. It contends that without a signed agreement local police will not evict a guest, and that without identification owners have no protection against fraud, theft or damage.

Those are the release’s characterizations of the policy and its consequences. The release did not include a response from Airbnb, and it did not quote the policy language itself.

The managers’ request, as outlined in the release, is for ordinances requiring three things for every short-term rental in Orange Beach, regardless of platform:

• A guest ID.
• A signed rental agreement.
• Emergency contact information.

The release also frames the issue as one of protecting locally owned rental businesses, their employees and the neighborhoods they serve.

A later account of the Nov. 3 discussion described the managers’ concerns in broader terms, saying booking platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo limit how much property managers can communicate with guests or collect from them. Under those policies, it said, guest phone numbers and email addresses are withheld or replaced with temporary system-generated identifiers, and managers cannot require signed rental agreements or verify identification before check-in. It said local officials and managers believe this makes it harder to comply with municipal ordinances meant to tell visitors about local rules and potential penalties.

The account also pointed to the state’s licensing rules. Property managers are regulated by the Alabama Real Estate License Commission and must meet standards on property safety, asset protection and financial management, it said, and anonymous guest profiles make it harder to reach guests during severe weather or utility failures. Local stakeholders also warned, according to the account, that a lack of guest verification could raise the risk of unauthorized use of a property or illegal activity in residential neighborhoods. It described vacation rentals as one of the largest sources of tax revenue for local cities.

Options mentioned for responding to the changes that take effect Nov. 20 included a joint effort between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, a look at state-level legislation on broker transactions, and local rules requiring guest identification and executed rental agreements. The account did not describe any vote or formal council response, and it raised the question of whether the city should give property owners more advance notice and survey registered rental owners before adopting new rules.

Hurricane Isaias is part of the argument

The release points to the recent scare from Hurricane Isaias as an example of why contact information matters, saying it is vital for reaching guests in an emergency.

That storm remains fresh along the coast. Gov. Kay Ivey ordered non-residents, tourists and visitors south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Baldwin County to leave beginning Oct. 8, at a time when county officials put occupancy at beach hotels and vacation rentals at about 80%. Isaias came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane near Destin, Florida, on Oct. 9, and Orange Beach reported downed trees and debris but no injuries.

The evacuation also put rental agreements in the spotlight. In the days afterward, some visitors took to social media seeking refunds, and tourism officials urged guests to contact the company they booked with and review their rental agreements.

Why short-term rentals matter here

Vacation rentals are a major business on the Alabama coast, and Airbnb’s role in the local market has been changing. In September, the platform began automatically collecting and remitting occupancy taxes for hosts on Alabama listings. South AL News has reported that the local market includes about 75 rental firms.

Any ordinance would have to come before the council. The Nov. 20 date cited in the release falls a little more than two weeks after the Nov. 3 meeting.