Fort Bend County residents who hosted Airbnb guests in 2018 earned $1.5 million from 9,600 guest arrivals, according to the community-driven hospitality company.

The Texas comptroller’s office recognized Airbnb as a hotel alternative two years ago, enabling the state to collect and remit a 6 percent state hotel occupancy tax for short-term rentals booked through Airbnb’s website.

Airbnb recommends hosts learn their area’s regulations before listing their home on the site. Most Airbnb listings are short-term rentals, but the city of Sugar Land does not allow rentals of less than 30 days within its city limits, according to city spokesman Doug Adolph.

City staff monitor complaints and sites, including Airbnb, Vacation Rentals By Owner and Homeaway for residents who violate this zoning rule, Adolph said.

Those who receive citations can be fined as much as $2,000 per day, Adolph said.

Over in Missouri City, Airbnb is also not allowed in most single-family residential neighborhoods because of boarding homes, lodging houses and similar facilities that are made available pursuant to short-term rental applications are generally not considered single-family residential in Missouri City, which is a zoned community, according to city officials.

In January, Airbnb reported hosts in the Houston area last year brought in $72 million in income and welcomed about 512,000 guest arrivals, with hosts earning about $5,100 annually.

There are about 400 active hosts in Fort Bend County, according to Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit, compared to 30,000 around Texas. A search for available homes on the Airbnb website yielded over 300 in Sugar Land and about 20 in Missouri City.

In addition, the number of guest arrivals to Fort Bend County increased 81 percent over the past year. The largest influx of guests came the weekend of July 28, 2018, Breit said.

Hosts who live in the Sugar Land and Missouri City extraterritorial jurisdiction are under the jurisdiction of Fort Bend County, and therefore, the ability to regulate is limited, the cities said. Adolph said Sugar Land has limited agreements in place with the Riverstone community for building and fire permits and inspections of new construction, not including short-term rental inspection or enforcement.