Neighbors concerned over local Airbnbs, Rexburg asks hosts to shutdown

REXBURG — Some residents in Rexburg are concerned their neighborhoods are being taken over by out-of-state vacationers — specifically those that use the online home booking service Airbnb.

Airbnb is a website business that allows residents to rent out their homes to vacationing guests from anywhere in the world. It provides steady income to home-owners and opportunities to meet people from around the world.

But neighbors say the service causes disturbances in their neighborhoods. Residents in the Indian Hills neighborhood have filed complaints with the city against fellow neighbors about their Airbnb services, and they aren’t happy.

“Every time you take a home in a stable neighborhood, and you convert that home into a rental — in particular a short-term rental unit — it basically punctures the fabric of the neighborhood,” Indian Hills resident Gary Baird said.

The issue came about after some Airbnb guests were frequenting the Indian Hills neighborhood. Community members said they noticed an abundance of out-of-state cars at certain homes, and large-scale parties, which didn’t include members of the hosting family.

“People noticed lots of different cars coming and going at different hours of the day, and not the same cars. (There was) kind of a quick turnover of cars, which seemed to be unusual. I know that in some of them there were large parties taking place,” Baird said.

On top of the objections to Airbnb, city officials also found some hosts to be in violation of a city ordinance.

(Read more here)