When the Sundance Film Festival begins in Boulder, Colorado, on Jan. 21, 2027, tens of thousands of filmmakers and moviegoers will descend on the city. The influx of film aficionados will bring a problem familiar to cities that host large events: Those out-of-town visitors will all need lodging at the same time.

Boulder has traditionally had restrictive rules around short-term rentals. The city responded to the lodging pressure by creating a new rental license in April 2026 that temporarily expands who can offer short-term lodging during the event.

By allowing second homes and tenant-occupied properties to enter the lodging market, the policy could broaden who earns lodging income and spread visitor spending across more Boulder neighborhoods.

As an urban and regional economist in Colorado, I study housing policy and local public finance. I am particularly interested in how local governments serve as laboratories of democracy – and who benefits and bears the costs of their policy experiments.

Lodging policy for a predictable demand spike

Sundance is an 11-day annual festival that showcases independent storytelling by featuring dramatic and documentary films, shorts, premieres and filmmaker discussions. After more than four decades in Utah, Sundance is making Boulder its new home.

In Utah in 2025, Sundance reported 85,472 in-person attendees, including nearly 28,000 visitors from outside the state. Not all attendees require lodging or visit at the same time. Even so, that scale is large relative to Boulder’s existing lodging capacity.

According to Boulder City Council documents, there are roughly 2,900 hotel rooms and 685 standard short-term rental licenses in Boulder.

Hotels are generally built to........

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