Berwyn, IL Short-Term Rentals: Host Platform Liability (2026)

Section 879C.05 opens by saying no license shall be issued unless the listed standards are met, and standard (A) is the platform rule. All owners must use a hosting platform to market a short-term rental, so direct, off-platform booking is not an option for a licensed Berwyn host. The same sentence structure then assigns a duty to the platform itself: it shall be responsible for determining the guest's identification information and the accuracy of that information.

The definition in Section 879C.01 explains who counts. A hosting platform is a marketplace entity, in whatever form or format, that facilitates short-term rentals through advertising, matchmaking or other means, using any medium or facilitation, or from which the operator derives revenue, including booking fees or advertising revenues from providing or maintaining the marketplace information. That is wide enough to reach a listing site that earns only advertising money. The chapter itself defines a short-term rental as a unit rented out using a hosting platform, so the platform is built into the licensing trigger, not added as an afterthought.

The platform duty does not replace the owner's own paperwork. Under Section 879C.05(F) the owner keeps a written guest register recording the name of every guest, arrival and departure dates, and the price, fee or other remuneration collected for each 24-hour period, and must keep it freely accessible to any authorized city representative. Section 879C.05(G) also requires the license to be posted inside the front entrance with the owner's name, a 24-hour telephone number and the maximum occupancy.

The chapter was adopted as Ordinance 23-27 on 12-12-2023. Note that the penalty clause in Section 879C.99 speaks to any owner, guest or other person, and the license standards are enforced against the owner who holds the license.