Emery County travel board declines renewal of Decker Technology Airbnb-monitoring subscription

The Emery County Travel Bureau board voted to deny renewal of its Decker Technology subscription, a $3,675 service the bureau has used to monitor Airbnb and other short‑term rental listings.

Board members said the platform has been helpful in limited circumstances but has not been used enough to justify the recurring expense. A travel‑bureau staff member told the board the renewal would be $3,675 and that municipalities such as Ferron and Orangeville have used the data at times, but many local jurisdictions already track listings through their own business licensing or by checking Airbnb directly.

The denial motion carried after a motion and second; one board member, Brent (last name not specified), abstained because he said he had missed the discussion. The motion’s mover and seconder were not recorded by name in the meeting transcript. Board discussion repeatedly returned to cost‑benefit questions: "I don't think we've got $800 worth of information for the times when we've logged in for it," a board member said during debate.

Board comments noted that some municipalities used the tool only once or a few times and that staff had not asked Decker to present again because the board had previously seen the vendor’s demonstration. Travel‑bureau staff said the subscription had been purchased last year to provide a baseline inventory and to assist municipalities that lacked local tracking; the board left open the option of revisiting the issue in future meetings if local needs change.

The board did not record a full roll‑call tally in the transcript beyond several members calling “Aye,” so a complete numeric vote count is not available in the record.

The bureau staff said the subscription could be repurchased later if circumstances changed; no follow‑up task or deadline was set during the meeting.