The owners of several hostels in New Orleans ask the City Planning Commission to approve proposed amendments to the city's Short Term Rental program. The proliferation of short term rentals threatens the hostels' ability to continue offering high quality, affordable accommodation as the hostels have to abide by safety and neighbor rules that short term rentals do not. Limiting permits and areas for short term rentals would help restore a balance between visitors and residents and ensure hostels can continue serving visitors to New Orleans.

1. 2/8/2019 NOLA letter - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KcxyD-CI1xd0K-D_Cv-kVOr5N5jbGt0Ri6DPFijuH6w/edit#heading=h.lfnnqlbxlyqh 1/1
New Orleans City Planning Commission
1300 Perdido St, 7th Floor
New Orleans, LA 70112
Friday, February 8, 2019
To the New Orleans City Planning Commission:
We, the undersigned owners of New Orleans’ hostels, ask that you approve the City Council’s proposed
amendments to the City’s Short Term Rental program.
New Orleans has some of the finest budget accommodation options in the United States. Of the 10
hostels in New Orleans, 8 of them receive guest satisfaction scores above 90% on the industry’s leading
hostel booking platform. New Orleans is home to Auberge NOLA, which has received the accolade for
best hostel in the United States twice. NOLA’s newest hostel, The Quisby, was featured in the book The
Grand Hostels: Luxury Hostels of the World. We, the hostel operators of New Orleans, take tremendous
pride in the world-class hospitality that we offer budget travellers to the city.
The proliferation of Short Term Rentals in New Orleans threatens our ability as an industry to continue
offering high quality budget accommodation. We operate legitimate licensed businesses and protect our
guests with fire safety equipment, CCTV, and on-site staff. Besides taking care of our guests, we take
care of our neighborhoods, ensuring our guests are quiet and respectful of the area’s residents. Short
Term Rentals don’t offer the same level of safety for guests. A whole-house vacation rental does not
make a good neighbor. Being a good neighbor and a great host costs money, which makes it impossible
for us to compete with vacation rentals that don’t have to play by the same rules.
We understand the role that short term vacation rentals play in having a balanced mix of accommodation
options for travelers, however the current policy towards these rentals has saturated our neighborhoods
with short-term rental units. Most are not NOLA residents renting their guest bedrooms. Rather, they are
commercial enterprises, some of which even go so far as to name themselves “hostel” in their online
listings.
We encourage you to approve the City Council’s proposed amendments. Limiting the number of permits
and the areas for STRs will help restore the balance that is best for visitors and residents and will ensure
that hostels are able to continue offering New Orleans’ visitors world-class budget accommodation.
Jean Beard, owner, SITE 61 HOSTEL
David Gindin, owner, THE QUISBY
Robert Weinstein, owner, AUBERGE NOLA
Sean Rhim, owner, MADAME ISABELLE’S HOUSE
Mark Saddington, owner, INDIA HOUSE HOSTEL