Jonathan Bell, a local Airbnb host, went live with his Airbnb rental in February and has had a number of guests visit. The apartment is located in the heart of downtown Jamestown at Thurston Terrace. Submitted photo

From Westfield to Jamestown and back again, a number of rooms and homes are being opened for visitors via an online phenomenon.

Airbnb, an online marketplace for accommodations and experiences across the world, offers a variety of rooms and homes here in the area for visitors to rent. The website was founded in 2008, and allows people to rent out their extra space at their discretion.

Hosts create a listing complete with photos and description of their facility, and much like booking a hotel stay, travelers will book the space for an allotment of time. When visiting airbnb.com, a search for “Chautauqua County” brings up a variety of listings, from cozy cottages to mansions and apartments.

Jonathan Bell, area resident, said he listed his apartment in downtown Jamestown on Airbnb in February and has had a good experience. Bell rents the apartment, and essentially sub-leases the apartment to others using Airbnb. At the time of writing, he has had 50 reservations and 129 nights booked this year.

Bell said he decided to become a host on Airbnb because of his love for travel and his love for Jamestown.

“For me, this is all about raising the bar for local accommodations and elevating the overall experience for visitors in Jamestown,” he said. “Airbnb itself is just a means. I’m happy if I break even, and I welcome ‘competition.’ If anyone else is interested in hosting on Airbnb, I would encourage them to offer the best possible experience.”

Bell said hosting on the Airbnb website is a lot like selling items on eBay.

“It starts with a great listing and requires good communication with your customers,” he said. “Like eBay or other digital marketplaces, the platform has great features to stay organized. Beyond that, it’s all about traditional hospitality.”

As a host, Bell said Airbnb keeps him organized, handles the payment processing and offers a layer of insurance to help with liabilities. Also, with the name being known across the world, he said he doesn’t have to do much marketing.

“When traveling, many people simply go to Airbnb and search (for) accommodations around their destination,” he said.

So far, Bell said he has had good experiences with guests and has found that any issues with the platform have been resolved easily. He said offering up his space in the city has brought a lot to the area.

“I think it’s offered visitors the best possible context from which to base their local experience,” Bell said. “My apartment is located right in the heart of downtown, so guests have easy access to some of our best attractions like the Lucy-Desi Museum, Reg Lenna and Ice Arena as well as a variety of restaurants and bars within a very small radius. I’m still holding out for a local guest who just wants to stay downtown for a night.”

Bell isn’t the only one offering space in the county. Rather, there are a number of vacation properties around lake area and a few more locally. He said the endeavor still supports the county due to the payment of bed taxes at the end of the year. Happy to support the county, Bell said the process to pay taxes in Chautauqua County is fairly easy and involves filling in one form to register.

County legislators on the Audit and Control committee recently heard information regarding Airbnb in the area. Committee Chair Pierre Chagnon said Airbnb and other such services are becoming much more popular in the area, but at times present an issue with occupancy taxes being collected. He said, for example, if a person decides to rent their home out for Thanksgiving and they list it on a website, how can the county be sure that the proper occupancy taxes are being collected?

Currently, Chagnon said the county has a process in which rental listings on websites like Airbnb and others are found and owners are contacted, but other arrangements can possibly be made. For example, he said Airbnb offers a service in which the occupancy tax would be collected by Airbnb and would then be remitted to the county. However, Airbnb does not report who the taxes were collected from.

At the most recent meeting of the committee, members directed the county finance department to look over the current process the county is using to find these listings and contact the owners to see if a new direction should be taken.

Chagnon said Airbnb and other such services are relatively new, and have been growing in use in the Chautauqua County area. He said it will most likely continue to grow in use in the coming years.

County Finance Director Kitty Crow said there are other entities beside Airbnb that are used for this service in the county, and those are included in the discussion of collecting occupancy taxes on these types of rentals. Previously, Crow said there was a misconception that the county was not collecting occupancy tax on such rentals, but the county does collect those taxes.

For those who do utilize an online platform for renting their spaces out, Crow invited them to view the regulations on the county website to keep informed and up-to-date on their responsibilities at Chautauqua.ny.us.