“Old Edwards Hospitality Group is totally supportive of STR’s in Highlands and we always have been. There are simply not enough hotel rooms in town for the volume of visitors that have discovered Highlands and love visiting Highlands with their families. Banning STR’s in Highlands would have an immediate and drastic negative impact on us and all businesses in town that have come to rely on that additional room inventory over the last 20+ years. How can you allow STR’s to grow and prosper for the last 40 years and openly take the occupancy and sales tax revenue for the town, and then suddenly declare them illegal? In my estimates you could be talking about well over $10-$15 million spent in Highlands’ businesses annually by STR guests and that is a conservative calculation. We have well over 100,000 visitors annually staying in STR’s. How will all of us that have businesses in town replace that revenue? Not to mention the revenue for the STR owners and occupancy tax and sales tax which also are in the millions of dollars. It appears to me that this was a knee jerk reaction to a vocal minority and there should have been a lot more discussion and an economic impact study done before any final decisions were handed down. Even if STR’s are not permitted by the UDO in R1 (which is still up for interpretation), the town has basically given their blessing of them by allowing them to grow and prosper for 40 years with no regulation or enforcement otherwise. And people have invested millions of dollars on dilapidated properties and renovations and locals have built their livelihoods on the perfectly good assumption that since the town did nothing for so long that they must be permitted. Shame on the town.”

Richard M. Delany


President and Managing Director 


Old Edwards Hospitality Group

2019 U.S. News & World Report #3 Hotel in North Carolina


2018 Travel and Leisure World’s Best Awards #6 Top Hotel in The South 


2018 Condé Nast #17 Top Hotel in The South