What the chapter does

One membership, three jobs.

All three exist to make hosting in Austin easier and more profitable.

★Advocate

We show up at City Hall so you don't have to — budget hearings, ordinance rewrites, fee fights. One organized voice for Austin hosts. Our current focus →

★Connect

A vetted network of Austin STR providers — bookkeeping, management, cleaning, insurance — with member referral pricing. Find a provider →

★Educate

Plain-English guides and alerts before rule changes hit you, not after. Start with the 2026 licensing rules every Austin host now lives under. Read the guide → · How to apply →

Current focus · Summer 2026

Right now: Austin's $836 license fee.

The chapter rallies around one fight at a time — the issue that matters most to Austin hosts right now. Today that's the license fee. Next season it may be enforcement fairness, density rules, or statewide preemption. Members set the agenda.

Texas law says a license fee can only recover what a program actually costs to run. Austin charges $836.30 for a new STR license — 2.7× Houston, 5× Dallas — and the city's own documents show the math doesn't hold up:

When Council pressed last year, staff cut the effective renewal fee 61% overnight — by removing overhead (including fleet charges) that never belonged in a desk-review fee.
The current fee implies roughly 7 staff-hours to review one application. Houston does the same job for $308, all-in.
Hosts just funded a $745,000 automated licensing system — the savings should show up in the fee, not in a study.
Council directed staff to deliver a revised fee schedule in September 2025. We're asking them to finish the job.

Our ask: adopt a revised STR license fee of no more than $400 in the FY2027 budget. A cheaper front door means more licensed, tax-paying, good-neighbor rentals — exactly what Council voted 10–0 to achieve.

Show up July 30. The budget public hearing is Thursday, July 30 at 3:00 PM, Austin City Hall (301 W 2nd St). Every host in the room matters. Want to speak or donate your time to a speaker? We'll walk you through it, scripts included.

Count me in for July 30

Upcoming

Where Austin hosts will be next.

Jul

City budget public hearing — the fee vote that matters

Council takes public testimony on the FY2027 budget, including the STR license fee. We're organizing speakers and seat-fillers; every host in the room counts.

3:00 PM · Austin City Hall, Council Chambers · 301 W 2nd St · RSVP with the chapter

Aug

TBA

Austin host meetup

Casual monthly meetup — hosts, board members, and the providers from our network. Bring your questions about the new rules.

Date & venue announced to members first · Join to get the invite

Chapter service

Unlicensed? We'll walk your permit through for you.

The city's own processing time is 6–10 weeks, partial applications aren't processed, and a missed document email can cancel your file without a refund. Our permit expediting service prepares it, files it complete, and answers the city the same day — until the license is in your inbox. $499 flat, plus city fees — includes a year of membership, new or added to your current term. Pending applications pause delisting enforcement — the sooner it's filed, the safer you are.

Start with the $99 eligibility pre-check Or read the DIY walkthrough

The provider network

Vetted Austin STR providers, one referral away.

Bookkeeping and tax, property management, cleaning and turnover, insurance, real estate, licensing help — every provider in the network is a chapter member who works with short-term rentals every day. Members get referral pricing.

Browse the provider network List my business

Founding board

The people doing the work.

Austin hosts and STR professionals volunteering their time — because the rules get written whether or not owners are in the room.

Blake Carter

Incoming President

Native Austinite and co-owner of CRIBS — one of Austin's most respected STR management companies, Cribs Consulting, alongside an investor-focused brokerage, Cribs Realty Group. Blake teaches STR investing classes, leads monthly host meetups, and speaks regularly on Austin regulations and market strategy.

Erika Rae Albert

Founding Board Member

Broker and owner of E-Rae Realty with over a decade of Austin residential experience. Erika holds the GRI designation and a Resort & Second-Home specialization — she's helped hundreds of Austinites buy and sell, including the investment properties the new density rules now govern.

Ravi Parikh

Founding Board Member

Founder of Parikh Financial, an Austin firm specializing in bookkeeping, tax, and fractional-CFO work for short-term rental operators; CEO of RoverPass, the reservation and property-software platform serving campgrounds and RV parks nationwide; and co-founder of MakerSquare, Austin's in-person AI bootcamp for business operators. Austin real estate investor and operator.

Membership

Join the Austin chapter.

Membership is with the Austin chapter directly, and dues fund everything on this page: the advocacy at City Hall, the guides, the meetups, and the vetted provider network with member referral pricing.

Host

$99

per year

For Austin hosts and property managers. Advocacy alerts before rule changes hit you, member meetups, referral pricing from network providers, and a voice in what the chapter fights for next.

Vendor

$299

per year

For businesses serving Austin STRs. Includes your listing in the chapter provider network — one vetted provider per category — and member referrals.

Every tier includes the compliance playbook, alerts before rule changes hit you, and a seat at the table when the city writes the next ordinance.

Join as a host — $99/yr List my business