Presented by Shannon Hiller-Webb, Host2Host representative on the Travel Portland Board at Host2Host’s Annual Members Meeting – Nov 17, 2021

Let me start by stating that it has been a privilege to serve as your Host2Host representative to the Travel Portland board of directors. For those of you who may not know, we earned the Travel Portland board seat through our testimony to City Council in 2018 about being a voiceless part of our industry as decisions were being made that impacted us. The criticism that had been levied vilified our portion of the travel industry. In reality, the blame often belonged to the platforms and bad actors and did not reflect good hosts who support local businesses, create meaningful experiences for travelers and allow many hosts to invest in their homes and age in place.. We found much about our sharing community was largely unknown. City Council agreed and advocated 2 new board positions from our industry be created at Travel Portland - one for platforms and one for hosts. 

My time on the Travel Portland board has allowed me to inform travel industry leaders and decision makers about our slice of the travel pie - Short Term Rentals. Travel Portland exists to attract conferences, promote the uniqueness of our city that drives demand for heads in beds in overnight stays and supports the local economy. Travel Portland also intersects with major travel organizations, political stakeholders and political decision makers, locally and internationally. 

Travel Portland experienced their most difficult years in recent history given the COVID pandemic. Travel Portland very early on determined to take proactive measures to preserve savings and conserve the limited income, as most of their funding comes from taxation to travelers staying at hotels and short-term rentals. They did so by laying off 34% of their staff, canceling media contracts, advertising campaigns, postponing programming and renegotiating infrastructure costs. That time was used in large part to aid coordination of Top Chef, recognizing that investment would launch later in the pandemic and put Portland in the limelight highlighting some of what is best about our city - food and people to inspire travel here. 

Leading into summer, Airbnb & Travel Portland launched the first of its kind $25k Promotional Collaboration. Airbnb engaged key feeder markets like San Francisco and LA with several e-newsletter emails, paid social media and PR highlighting seven Portland Neighborhoods in a “Cool Portland Neighborhood Guide”. With an average 7.4% open rate, it was the best performing Airbnb email campaign in North America and provided a lift in local bookings. We are encouraging more collaborations between Airbnb and Travel Portland as an investment in our success. 

The resiliency of short-term rentals in this pandemic has revealed to Travel Portland the importance of the funds we generate to support their staffing and marketing. While 18 hotels closed in Portland for months last year, short-term rentals remained open and thriving, giving travelers confidence to travel with a sense of safety, privacy and sanitation. This has been noted several times by Travel Portland CEO, Jeff Miller to the board of directors and City Council reinforcing our financial contribution as important. 

Travel Portland is working with the City of Portland to encourage investments in addressing houseless issues and cleaning up the city to welcome guests back. Funds generated from short term rental taxes have contributed nearly $5 million a year to the Housing Fund, confirming we are part of the solution. 

While my main role continues to be building relationships, education and advocacy, I am also focused on expanding STR representation on the Travel Portland board and committees so that we can have more proportionate representation. 

I regularly attend meetings with public officials and have been expanding our relationship with City Council Commissioner, Mingus Mapps who is a former Airbnb host and someone we hope can advocate from the dais on our behalf when issues we care about are raised. 

We don’t know of another  organization like Host2Host in the nation who has a seat at the table with their Travel Portland equivalent. We hope that by modeling the work, others will follow to give hosts a voice as responsible contributors to the travel industry and the prosperity of their cities. 

Your support as members of this organization makes certain hosts are recognized, validated, listened to, and acted on behalf of. You should feel proud to be a part of Host2Host. And we look forward to having you stay connected.