How Gilbert, AZ Prepares for the Future While Protecting What Makes It Great

The Town of Gilbert, Arizona, has been consistently rated a best place to live. With its charming locale, friendly residents, and proximity to stunning landscapes and the City of Phoenix, it’s no wonder that Gilbert is a popular tourist hotspot. With the tagline “Town of the Future,” Gilbert aims to protect what makes its community great while meeting future needs by making it easier to transact with its departments. 

With a population of only around 289,000, Gilbert welcomes over 5.4 million visitors annually. With just one administrative staff member dedicated to handling hundreds of short-term rentals (STRs), the Town of Gilbert staff quickly realized they needed to update existing processes. The Town’s manual, paper-based approach was not keeping pace with the rapidly evolving rental landscape, resulting in low voluntary compliance rates and fee payments to support the oversight of rental properties. 

To close the gap and protect the quality of life for its full-time residents, Ashley Namor, Gilbert’s Business Compliance Project Manager, balanced two somewhat competing priorities—simplifying the registration process and ensuring ongoing compliance of all STR properties, while ensuring that the full-time residents’ needs were met. 

Gilbert’s approach to managing their short-term rentals was labor-intensive and lacked efficiency, hindering their ability to keep pace with the rapidly growing number of short-term rentals they knew were operating within Town limits. The lack of publicly available information and a paper-based, manual process resulted in low compliance rates among rental property owners, further resulting in a substantial loss of potential revenue that could have been reinvested into the community. 

Additionally, the state had passed down an ordinance that Gilbert could either choose to follow or create their own that best fit the Town’s unique needs. “There was a lot of confusion around what compliance looks like,” explained Namor. “What does it mean for Gilbert? What does it mean at the state level, and what can we actually require our owners to do in the meantime?” 

Gilbert recognized the urgent need for a strategic overhaul of its short-term rental management system. The goal was to transition to a more regulated, transparent, and efficient framework that could better serve the interests of all stakeholders involved, including short-term rental owners and local residents. By addressing these challenges head-on, Gilbert aimed to enhance its regulatory framework as well as foster a more vibrant, sustainable community that could thrive in the face of the short-term rental economy’s demands.  

When finding a software solution, it was critical for Gilbert to obtain community buy-in. Namor shared, “It was about creating an effective way to obtain the information we really needed to stay compliant with the state and to also make sure that the property owners knew that we were here to serve as a resource to them as well.” 

Gilbert turned to the Neumo Short-Term Rental solution that offered a comprehensive suite of tools designed to automate and streamline the entire process of managing, registering, and taxing short-term rentals. This included digital applications for licenses and taxes, an online portal for easy access and management by rental owners, and sophisticated data analytics for better decision-making by town officials.

The implementation of this solution transformed Gilbert’s approach from a largely reactive, paper-based system to a proactive, data-driven strategy. This move dramatically improved compliance rates through easier registration processes and more effective enforcement capabilities.

Increased Efficiency and Compliance

Gilbert increased short-term rental registration compliance from 40% to 90%. The move to digital processes facilitated a smoother, more accessible registration process for rental owners, resulting in less strain on staff and greater ease for short-term rental owners.

Fees for Services

With more rentals registered and accurate fee payments, Gilbert was able to invest in supporting local tourism that benefits the community. “We have a reputation of doing things that are meaningful and positive for residents, and it was important for us to maintain that,” said Namor.

Community and Stakeholder Engagement

One of the standout achievements was the improved engagement with both rental owners and the wider community. The solution enabled Gilbert to communicate more effectively with stakeholders, providing clear information about regulations, requirements, and resources available to both owners and residents.

By enabling an open and transparent process and Gilbert’s focus on communication, the result was a more cooperative relationship between the Town, short-term rental owners, and residents to promote a better understanding and compliance with local ordinances and support smarter long-term growth.

For more information about Neumo products, visit neumo.com/products.