HOLMES BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — The City of Holmes Beach said a boom in short-term rentals over the last decade has made enforcement more challenging for the small island community.
City officials said the number of vacation rentals has grown from a few hundred to about 1,600, bringing more traffic, noise and activity into residential neighborhoods.
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“With that rapid growth comes more tourism and more traffic,” said code compliance officer Nathan Brown. “It has to be managed; it has to be monitored.”
In 2023, the city started using an AI-based platform called Rentalscape. The program by Deckard Technologies scans online rental listings to help identify non-compliant properties…