Kyle is looking at regulating vacation rentals using a new software technology that was presented to the Planning and Zoning Committee on April 10.

The software comes from a company called STR Helper, which works with 70 other cities nationwide to oversee vacation rental licensing and compliance. STR Helper also works with Fredericksburg and South Padre Island, and is looking to expand to Austin.

According to a preliminary report by STR Helper, Kyle has a total of 51 STR listings on Airbnb and HomeAway, major vacation rental websites.

The software platform has a range of services that the city could choose to use, including a service that would register all STR in the area, charge permitting fees, enforce permits, ensure tax compliance, collect complaints, among other services.

John Spencer, with STR Helper communications, presented the software and described it as being over 99.5 percent effective at accurately pinpointing STR in client areas.

To locate STR, the software uses a combination of Geographic Information System (GIS), data from vacation rental sites and public information from across sources such as Facebook, voter registration, Whitepages, and architecture recognition software.

“In Airbnb, for example, it will talk about the host’s name, it will say ‘Timothy was a terrific host.’ I know more or less where the advertised house is — I can probably get it down to 150 to 200 yard radius of where the house is,” Spencer said. “Now I can do things like search voter roles, I can search GIS data, I can search all sorts of things for strings that say Timothy.”

The software monitors over 40 sites and can dynamically calculate when rentals are put up or pulled down.

If P&Z and city council decide to move forward with the vacation rental regulation company, Spencer estimated it would cost the city an estimated $5,000 annually, depending on the amount of STR that become registered on the platform.

Spencer says the city can use permit registration fees for STR to pay for the annual fee. Fredericksburg started using STR Helper on April 1 and pays an annual fee of $22,000. There are an estimated 900 STR in Fredericksburg and each rental pays a $150 annual permit fee. The city also collects a Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) on STR.

The software could be the city’s answer to STR regulation concerns, however, one issue with the software could be privacy concerns.

However, Spencer guarantees complete privacy and does not intend to sell any information.

“Our data is locked tight with the city. It’s not given to anyone else under any circumstances. The privacy issue is paramount to us,” Spencer said. “But we do live in a world where all of the data we’re getting is public record and all we’re doing is very efficiently managing and assimilating data.”

Kyle Mayor Mitchell Travis says the city is still in the early stages of acquiring information and wants to allow P&Z plenty of time to put together a report for city council before making any decisions.

“We’re trying to learn about how STR are regulated throughout the country, we don’t have any opinion on privacy issues yet, because we haven’t made any decisions yet. We’re trying to make wise and equitable decisions based on a variety of information,” Mayor Mitchell Travis.

The Kyle Chamber of Commerce also has not come out yet with a decision on the new STR software.

“I think there are different aspects that could be positive like when it comes to tourism, but if expectations are not outlined and clear, it could be a problem.  We always want to make sure our neighbors are respected,” Julie Snyder, Kyle Chamber CEO, said.

The chamber is trying to get more feedback from the business community by sharing the city’s survey on STR on social media.

As of April 16, the city has fielded 475 responses to their public survey, which closed April 19.. P&Z commissioners will get the results of the survey in full and present their findings to city council. Currently the presentation to city council is scheduled for May 4.