There’s something peculiar in the air these days in Hochatown. It is not the scent of pine or the whisper of autumn winds (though those are always present). It is a hum — the quiet soft insistence of change, of regulation, of accounting. For in the foothills where cabins lie among cedars and vacationers migrate like birds, Hochatown is rewriting its tax script, especially as short-term rentals emerge less as novelty and more as a fixture of the local economy.

Hochatown has long known the tension of tourism and home: the balance between inviting visitors (who bring dollars, wallets, curiosity) and preserving community, infrastructure, fairness. For years, lodging tax (aka “hotel occupancy tax” or “lodging tax”) has been part of that ledger. But the growing tide of STRs — cabins, chalets, Airbnbs and VRBOs — has challenged old norms: How many nights rented? Whose books do we trust? Who self-reports, who slips through cracks? Which properties are playing by the same rules as hotels, and which are exempt?

This tension has sharpened in recent months, as Hochatown has announced a shift: moving away from Avenu, and toward a partnership with the firm Granicus, in order to modernize and tighten its STR tax licensing, remittance, and reporting.

The New Mechanism: What’s Changing

From Avenu to Granicus (and a stepping stone)

As of October 1, 2024, Hochatown officially severed ties with its prior system (Avenu), embracing a two-phase transition with Granicus to support its STR sector. The first phase is a kind of “interim” solution — a simpler, interim filing and tax remittance path to ease property owners and managers into the new system. Then, over the next 10–12 months, Hochatown plans to roll out a fully Enhanced Portal: account logins, bulk remittance, automated reminders, streamlined renewals, and more.

For STR owners, the practical steps are:

If you already registered via Avenu: continue to use your 10-digit Avenu STR license number to remit lodging taxes (for now).
If you haven’t yet applied: you must complete a new STR license application through Hochatown’s portal, receive a license number, and then use the Monthly Lodging Tax Collection Portal to file monthly.
Until full portal launch: continue using the current Tax Collection Form via the monthly portal; after each submission you’ll receive a PDF for your records.
Once the full portal is live: expect more automation, fewer manual forms, reminders, better integration.

This is not merely cosmetic: the goal is compliance, clarity, equity, and public accountability.

Why the change matters

Closing the compliance gap: STRs have grown fast, and many jurisdictions struggle to ensure all hosts submit lodging tax. A modern portal with reminders, account control, and bulk tools helps reduce non-filing or underreporting.
Efficiency for owners & town alike: hosts managing multiple properties gain through batch payments and clearer dashboards; the town gains with fewer manual interventions, lower staff burden, and better data.
Transparency & auditability: automated timestamped submission, audit trails, matching data per property helps verify accuracy (or spot anomalies).
Fairness: whether cabin operator, full-time host, or occasional renter, everyone is meant to play by the same rules — or at least know clearly what the rules are.

Context & Challenges: The STR Tax Landscape

To understand Hochatown’s move, we must see the broader debates around STR taxation.

The push for STR taxation

Across the U.S., states and municipalities have increasingly recognized that STRs — once fringe — now compete directly with traditional lodging. Many jurisdictions impose lodging or occupancy taxes on STRs, aligning them with hotels/motels in tax duties. But enforcement is patchy, and compliance lags where self-reporting prevails. The temptation for hosts: understate revenue, skip filing, or hide behind opaque platforms.

The equity question

One of the recurring critiques: STR hosts often enjoy favorable treatment compared to commercial hospitality. Some don’t pay the same local taxes, or their properties are assessed differently for property tax. That gives them cost advantages over “brick and mortar” hotels. Hochatown’s new system seeks to reduce such distortions by raising the floor of compliance.

Technical & data challenges

Tax authorities often lack real-time access to booking data (from platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, etc). Matching listings, occupancy, nightly rates — that’s a data puzzle. Solutions increasingly rely on platform reporting, APIs, third-party intermediaries, or requiring hosts to submit raw booking data. There is always tension: how much burden should hosts bear, and how much should the municipality expect as transparency.

Local backlash & community principle

Change invites resistance. Some residents object to higher compliance costs, or perceive STR taxation as targeting small hosts rather than large operators. Others fear that increased taxes on STRs could chill the market, discourage investment, or raise lodging prices. These debates often surface in public forums, town boards, or social media. Hochatown will need to manage communication, stakeholder buy-in, and a grace period for adaptation.

A Matter of Storytelling: From Cabins to Ledger Lines

I sometimes imagine the old Hochatown nights: a cabin perched above a valley, wind through trees, visitors arriving, footfalls echoing in darkness. The cabin’s owner, perhaps distant, waiting for summer, for bookings, for occupancy. Somewhere behind that experience is a ledger, a tax line, a civic contract: you benefit from the roads, water, public safety — you owe your share.

This shift before us is about making that contract clearer. When hosts log into a portal, click “renew license,” receive reminders, see a dashboard of income and taxes — they see the civic dimension of hospitality. It transforms “I rent my place when I’m away” into “I am a participant in local infrastructure.”

In a town like Hochatown, small and mountainside, every dollar of lodging tax is meaningful. It may fund hiking trail improvements, better roads, emergency services, signage, or tourism marketing. The more accurate the accounting, the more predictable the revenue, the more confident public planners can be in budgeting.

At the same time, the portal and system act as a kind of mirror: if a property reports nothing, but the platform shows 200 nights occupied, there’s a discrepancy. If a host is inconsistent, the system may flag omissions. The infrastructure is not punitive — yet it carries the implicit weight of oversight.

Hochatown’s 10–12 month build window is also a signal: the town does not assume perfect adoption overnight. It allows for transition, error, stakeholder adaptation, education, friction. That patience may be as important as the technology.

Risks, Caveats, and What Could Go Wrong

No reform is flawless. As Hochatown moves forward, several risks loom:

Technical rollouts can misfire: bugs, data mismatches, login errors, misrouted remittances — common in software transitions — could undermine trust.
Host resistance or confusion: owners unfamiliar with tax portals may delay compliance, complain, or inadvertently err. Clear guidance and support will be essential.
Privacy concerns: some hosts may resist exposing granular booking data. The town must balance transparency with confidentiality.
Inequity across scales: small occasional hosts versus full-time commercial operators — the burden may feel unfair to some.
Legal challenge or pushback: some hosts might argue overreach, regulatory overburden, or challenge definitions of “short-term.”
Revenue volatility: in off seasons, lodging tax income fluctuates; relying too heavily on STR revenue is risky.

The success of Hochatown’s system will depend not only on the software but on governance, clarity, communication, patience, and iteration.

What to Watch (and What Hosts Should Do)

If you’re an STR owner or manager in Hochatown, here are a few moves to stay ahead:

Apply now (if you haven’t) for the new STR license via the Hochatown portal
Keep your records up to date — bookings, nightly rates, cancellations — so when the portal demands data, you’re ready.
Watch for reminders & announcements from town hall — they will likely offer tutorials, webinars, or Q&A.
Budget for tax burden — the more efficient the system, the less you can “get away” with margin padding.
Engage in the transition — provide feedback, report glitches, be part of shaping fair policy.
Comply early — being an early adopter builds trust; errors early in the system are less damaging than lagging behind.

For town officials and community advocates, the big tests will be how smoothly the system launches, how well it handles exceptions, how equitable enforcement is, and whether it earns community trust.

A New Tax Narrative (or At Least a Better One)

There is a broader moral here — about governance, technology, and community. Municipal tax systems have often lagged behind economic innovation. STRs are one of the clearest disruptions: the way people monetize property has changed faster than many local tax codes have adapted.

Hochatown’s effort is modest in scale but ambitious in principle: to bring the local STR economy into clearer civic alignment, to make taxation less opaque, to preserve equity among lodging actors, and to strengthen the link between tenancy and community duty.

If done well, Hochatown’s new portal and reporting mechanism can become a model for rural or resort towns wrestling with the same dilemmas. If done poorly, it may breed resentment, confusion, and noncompliance. The path forward requires the patience to course correct, the humility to listen to hosts, the clarity to educate, and the backbone to enforce fairly.

In the end, cabins are more than revenue units: they’re pieces of a living ecosystem — places where memories are built and community is quietly sustained. The tax system isn’t just a ledger; it’s a framework that protects that ecosystem by keeping owners, guests, and the town in sync. At Frontier Property Management, our role is to stand in that space — translating the new reporting requirements into clear, compliant systems that let you focus on what matters: running a property that’s profitable, legal, and cared for as if it were our own. Hochatown’s new STR reporting scheme may formalize the contract between hosts and the town — and we make sure you’re always on the right side of it.