The town is prepping to tax short-term and vacation rentals 5% on top of the 13.4% all lodging in the town pays. That would bring the total tax paid by users of short-term and vacation rentals to 18.4%.

Officials with the town say the disparity in the tax rate is meant to level the playing field with the higher commercial property taxes paid by traditional lodging (hotels / bnb's) vs. the lower residential property taxes paid by short-term rentals operating in houses.

To gather some industry response, we spoke with Cliff Johnson, co-founder of Vacasa, a full-scale property management and rental firm who operates units in Crested Butte.