According to Boulder City Council documents, there are roughly 2,900 hotel rooms and 685 standard short-term rental licenses in Boulder. The new Festival Lodging Rental License, designed specifically for Sundance, expands the preexisting rules. Two studies show that short-term rentals can be especially valuable to consumers and hosts when major events strain hotel capacity. That suggests festival rentals could spread festival attendees throughout the Boulder area and not just near existing hotels and festival screening venues. However, the restrictions on Boulder’s new Festival Lodging Rental License limit this risk by restricting rentals to a city-approved event window.