Short Term Rentals Data Mining

The City of Seattle is seeking Proposals for Short Term Rentals Data Mining , to be submitted through the Procurement Portal at https://procurement.opengov.com/portal/seattle , no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, April 14, 2025 .

In December 2017, the Seattle City Council passed legislation to regulate and tax short-term rentals within Seattle city limits. Short-term rentals (STRs) are residential rentals with a duration shorter than 30 days. Implementing Ordinance 125490 allows the City to preserve the City's permanent housing stock, balance the economic opportunity created by short-term rentals with the need to maintain supply of long-term rental housing stock available at a range of prices, reduce any indirect negative effects on the availability of affordable housing, create a level playing field for all parties engaged in the business of providing lodging, and protect the livability of residential neighborhoods. The ordinance limits the number of units an operator can operate in Seattle with different rules for operators lawfully operating prior to September 30, 2017. Operators lawfully operating prior to September 30, 2017, who fall within specific geographic regions may continue operating existing legacy units.

Effective January 1, 2019, all STR operators and bed and breakfast operators who use short-term rental platforms for properties within the Seattle city limits must obtain a regulatory license from the Department of Finance and Administrative Services (FAS). In addition, all STR platforms that contain listings/advertisements for Seattle properties must obtain a STR Platform license. FAS’ Consumer Protection Division (CPD) ensures that all businesses operating in Seattle are properly licensed and paying required taxes. CPD will be overseeing the STR Operator Regulatory license.

STR Operators are required to list their license number on each listing/advertisement, no matter what the platform. Platforms require a license number to be provided on listings/advertisements and must remove listings/advertisements that do not comply. STR platforms will be required to provide quarterly booking fees. The cost of the STR Platform license is determined by the number of booked nights the platforms submit to the City on a quarterly basis.

The City of Seattle seeks a vendor to provide a web-based solution that compiles comprehensive data on STR operator listings/advertisements so that staff can actively monitor compliance and undertake enforcement actions as needed. The vendor must have experience serving public sector clients.

The City intends to use this solution to identify operators posting STR units on STR platforms without a valid City of Seattle Short-Term Rental Operator license. The City will use data from the solution to begin enforcement activities. The City also wishes to use the data to identify STR market trends including locating what neighborhoods contain STRs and which platforms operators are using to post their listings/advertisements.