Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • May 27, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: Tourism Lake Compounce GM talks innovation, competition, minimum wage ahead of 2019 tourism season Q&A talks with Jerry Brick, general manager of Lake Compounce, ahead of the amusement park's summer tourism season. Q. As Bristol-based Lake Compounce heads into its busy spring and sum- mer season, what's new at the park in 2019? How important is it for the park to introduce something new each year as it tries to remain relevant? A. While parks do not need to in- troduce new attractions every year it remains important that we continue to change and grow. Whether it is improve- ments in retail, food service or our enter- tainment programs, it is quite important for us to improve upon and introduce new and exciting things to our guests. This year Lake Compounce has redesigned a few of our gift shops, food stands, introduced new events, and added metal detectors to our main gate area. Q. Out of all the changes the park has made in the last five to 10 years, what has been the most successful in terms of drawing in customers? A. Moving Mount Vernon Road was a vital and significant investment that will allow us the space to introduce future water-park expansions and will prove to be incredibly important for the park as we move forward, leaving the park years of water expansion. Bear Creek Campground is another important addition for the park. This al- lows us to offer our guests a unique and fun experience and encourages visitors to enjoy the park multiple days at a time. Q. What's the competition like in New England these days in the amuse- ment-park industry? Who is your main competition — other amuse- ment parks, or any other destination that competes for tourism dollars? A. Competition is good. For com- petition, we have parks like Six Flags New England and Quassy Amusement Park, which are both very nice, well- operated parks. With both parks in our market, it has forced us to constantly improve and better our park in inno- vative and thoughtful ways. Other than amusement parks, we Jerry Brick General Manager, Lake Compounce By Joe Cooper jcooper@hartfordbusiness.com A irbnb has lauded Connecticut in recent years for its light touch when it comes to regulating the burgeoning short-term, home-rental industry. That, however, could be slowly changing. In the absence of state regu- lation, some cities and towns across Connecticut have begun to adopt poli- cies that better control Airbnb rentals, following in the footsteps of other U.S. municipalities and states. The town of Simsbury has banned Airbnb, while the city of Hartford was the state's first municipality to adopt regula- tions on short-term vacation rentals that require permitting and limit stays. And now at least one state lawmaker is pushing for tighter restrictions on the industry, though legislative changes likely won't happen this year. A lobbying fight, however, has al- ready been set off in Hartford. Airbnb earlier this year opposed the state's first attempt to reel in the short-term rental industry, arguing the pro- posed legislation would threaten the economic life- line of home shar- ing for 3,700 local hosts and curb profits for small business owners running bed and breakfasts. House Bill 7177, which failed to draw a vote in the Appropriations Committee, required new administrative tasks for short-term rental hosts, including licens- ing with the state, informing neighbors about guest stays and imposing addi- tional taxes on transactions. Airbnb has spent recent years bat- tling regulatory efforts in other states and cities looking to ban or prevent Airbnb operators in commercial zones. Those regulatory efforts come amid home-sharing's rising popularity among travelers who may think twice about staying in a traditional hotel. Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the Connecticut Lodging Associa- tion, said her trade group supports regulation of home-rental activity because it would put certain platforms like Airbnb on the same playing field as the local hotel industry. However, more research is needed on how the state should work with munic- ipalities, which often lack regulations on short-term rentals, before sweeping changes can be made, she said. "There is a need for regulation, I just don't know that we are ready to take this step at this time," said Kozlowski, not- ing that hotels are held to much higher property and casualty insurance, train- ing and transparency standards. Other opponents of the Connecti- cut proposal say creating red tape for short-term rental hosts could raise prices and avert tourists from visiting Connecticut, potentially jeopardizing the state's tax collections. Airbnb has delivered more than $5.2 million to the state in tax revenue since it began col- lecting Connecticut's 15-percent hotel tax in 2016. But proponents say regulation and its added costs are needed to ensure hosts are notifying their neighbors about incoming guests and mandating they are properly insured. "The sharing economy is great, but we need to make sure it's great for everyone," said state Rep. Sean Scan- lon (D-Guilford), who introduced the bill this year to regulate the short- term rental industry. "These rent- als shouldn't come at the expense of neighbors and safety. Neighbors need to know what's going on." Starting the conversation Although the first attempt to regulate short-term rental properties Rental Fight Municipalities and state eye regulation for Airbnb, growing home-sharing industry Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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