Salem eyes expanding tourism fee to Airbnbs

City proposal would charge short-term rental operators 2% fee to fund Travel Salem's marketing efforts.

Published on Mar. 9, 2026

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The city of Salem, Oregon is considering expanding a 2% tourism fee currently charged to hotels and motels to also include short-term rental operators like Airbnb hosts. The fee would go towards funding Travel Salem's tourism promotion work, but dozens of rental operators have come out against the proposal, arguing it unfairly burdens small, host-occupied properties.

Why it matters

The proposed fee highlights the ongoing tensions between the short-term rental industry and local governments seeking to regulate and tax the sector. Salem is trying to bring more unlicensed short-term rental operators into compliance, while rental hosts argue the fee is unfair and the city lacks proper enforcement.

The details

The 2% fee would be on top of an existing 9% transient occupancy tax levied on all short-term rentals in Salem. The tourism fee revenue currently goes to Travel Salem to market the city as a destination, but short-term rental operators say their guests are often visiting family or traveling for work, not tourism. The city has identified hundreds of unlicensed short-term rental operators and is using new software to track them down, but some licensed operators argue they'll be the only ones paying the new fee.

  • The Salem City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed fee on March 9, 2026, but no decisions are expected until a future meeting.
  • In December 2024, Salem city councilors voted unanimously to renew the tourism fee for hotels and motels for a period of five years.

The players

Ali Farias

A short-term rental operator who rents out a property at 860 15th St. N.E. in Salem.

Doug Vogel

A short-term rental operator who offers stays at his property at 310 23rd Street S.E. in Salem.

Nicole Miller

A spokeswoman for the city of Salem.

Jeff Kuh

A representative for Travel Salem, the organization contracted by the city to market Salem as a tourism destination.

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What they’re saying

“This fee unfairly burdens property owners who use their homes occasionally for income, treating them identically to corporate hotel chains.”

— Ali Farias, Short-term rental operator (salemreporter.com)

“My concern is that a small amount of us went through the process of getting a conditional use permit that we paid more than $6,000 for, retained property managers, followed compliance guidelines…and have been burdened with filling out monthly reports that the hundreds of other (short-term rental) owners do not.”

— Doug Vogel, Short-term rental operator (salemreporter.com)

“While these efforts benefit the entire lodging sector, short-term vacation rentals currently share in those benefits without contributing to the fund that makes them possible. For the system to be fair and sustainable, all lodging providers that benefit from Salem's tourism promotion should contribute to the efforts that make it possible.”

— Jeff Kuh, Representative for Travel Salem (salemreporter.com)

What’s next

The Salem City Council will decide whether to approve the proposed 2% tourism fee on short-term rentals at a future meeting after the public hearing on March 9, 2026.

The takeaway

This debate highlights the ongoing tensions between short-term rental operators and local governments seeking to regulate the industry and ensure all lodging providers contribute fairly to tourism promotion efforts. The outcome in Salem could set a precedent for how other cities approach this issue.