As the city council continues to discuss potential regulations for short term rentals, The Log’s Facebook page saw plenty of chatter after posing the question of whether or not additional regulations were needed. Here’s what some of our social media friends had to say.
Mark Davis: Yes! Our city's infrastructure is NOT designed for all of these tourists and the traffic they produce!
Diana Lynn: Yes! We are speaking of no short term rentals like three days vs a week. It controls the noise, trash and traffic on the streets. Yes, Mark Davis we have reached a full capacity. Tourist will come no matter what. I think 27 in a three bedroom house for three days means no sleep for neighbors.
Ekim Rhud: Hmmmmm I was going to take a vacation there at the end of the month…I guess we are not wanted.
Diana Lynn: Ekim Rhud, sure we love tourist most of us were once tourists. Just come stay for more than a couple days bringing forty to share your one bedroom condo. It is so beautiful everyone should enjoy it. Just not under the same roof like a frat party for two days.
Gabriel Ellis Vaughn: Tourism will always keep you employed. But Destin isn't meant for the capacity of people it gets this time of year. I stay away from the beaches till at least mid-April. It's sad how bad it's gotten. Something should be done.
Jennifer Shelton-Taylor: We are from Oklahoma, currently staying down the beach in Orange Beach. We've had a wonderful time! We only had a short time to stay, Friday through tomorrow. It sure would be a shame for the city to not welcome those of us who enjoy short term stays.
Destin is my first choice... But we'd go elsewhere.
Amy L Allen-Orcutt: We noticed one of the last times we were there, condos were allowing way to many per condo. Fire hazard! Way to much noise, and way to many people in certain areas! Glad the places we now stay take a list of how many and names!
Marla Durham: We come to Destin every year. Haven been for the last 40 years. It a beautiful place to be. My husband doesn't want to go any where else. He has been coming to Destin when he was just a little boy. We will continue to come to Destin. We use to come down in July but we changed it to September the traffic isn't near as bad.
Becky Berness Archer: It seems like some of the responsibility of "too many people in one rental property," should lie on the property owners and the rental companies. This town is not so big to where "spot checks" can’t be done. Is the money these children bring in outweigh the price they cost us while they're here? Damaged property, injuries, theft?
Brenda Shaver: I have rental property in Destin and I limit the number of people along with the amount of cars in each house in order not to have wear and tear on my house and to allow for proper parking. I go for quality over quantity and am full every summer. The numbers need to be limited in each house because even the houses can't take a full load. It has nothing to do with not wanting visitors, just an amount that our city can handle and we are overloaded at this time.
Sandi Farr: We DO appreciate our visitors, just not the ones who become loud, destructive & break laws. Some people get here and think laws/rules don't apply to them. Makes it hard to enjoy for the ones that do.
Melanie Williams Walker: Yes, yes, and yes! We welcome tourists. Please stay a while and really enjoy what Destin has to offer, instead of trashing it.
Anna Miller: My family vacations in Destin every summer and have only been made to feel "unwelcome" by a very few locals, which is to be expected in any tourist town, but onto the subject, my entire family goes 16-20 of us, we rent a house, always in the Crystal Beach area, usually in the Crystal Shores neighborhood, I know every house we have rented has a max capacity, and while the owner may not be onsite there is always a caretaker that checks in at least twice during the week just to make sure our visit is going well. It's never bothered us, of course we aren't breaking any rules either. - I do hate to go down to the beach for an early morning run and see the trash people left behind, so I can see why the locals get annoyed and if people can leave a spot as beautiful as the beaches in Destin a mess, I can't imagine what they could do to a rental. If it's possible, I do think some sort of enforcement should be in place, if it were my property id want there to be.
Linda Lattanzi: Yes, yes, yes, I just spent a week there and I LOVE seeing the sheriff cars parked ticketing drunk kids and wild parties…please don't let Destin become another Panama City.
Joanne Jones Bouchillon: Just like a hotel room has occupancy limits so too should condos and homes. Check in form listing names of all occupants and spot checks should help this. Your names not on the list..... Adios. Home/ condo owners, recheck your insurance docs. Last I checked, insurance companies will try anything to not pay should a disaster happen on the property.