CRANSTON – The RI Hospitality Association and RI Hospitality Education Foundation announced this week that Chief Operating Officer Heather Singleton, a resident of Chepachet, was appointed to the State of Rhode Island’s Special Legislative Commission to Review & Provide Recommendations for Policies that Deal with Numerous Economic & Social Short-Term Rentals Issues. She joined the board as RIHA/RIHEF President/CEO Dale J. Venturini’s designee. The Commission had its first meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 20 with additional meetings planned in 2023 and 2024.
House Resolution 6449, which established the Commission, was introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly in January 2023. The Commission consists of 15 members, including members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, industry associations, city officials, property owners, and other stakeholders. Its purpose is to study the effects of short-term rentals on Rhode Island and its municipalities by engaging with the community and reviewing existing statutes, the registration process, taxation, their impact on housing markets, health and safety concerns, and best practices from other states. Initial findings and recommendations are due by March 15, 2024, with subsequent reports every two years. The commission will expire on April 15, 2026.
“I’m truly honored to join Rhode Island’s Special Legislative Commission on Short-Term Rentals,” Singleton. “Short-term rentals are a significant part of our state’s tourism landscape, and I’m committed to collaborating with fellow commission members to comprehensively assess its economic and social impact. Our goal is to provide recommendations that strike a balance between individual property rights and community well-being. Through thoughtful review and stakeholder engagement, we aim to shape policies that benefit Rhode Island and its residents.”
As the chief operating officer of the RIHA and the RIHEF, Singleton supplies day-to-day staff management and oversees all operations including membership services, endorsed programs, educational partners, and training programs. Singleton, whose resume includes more than 25 years of industry experience, currently serves on the board of directors for the International Society of Hotel Associations, the William M. Davies Jr. Career & Technical High School Board of Trustees, and on the Governor’s Workforce Board Local Area Advisory Committee as its vice-chair. She is also the chair of the National Restaurant Association Certification Governing Committee.
Singleton has taught travel and tourism courses at the Community College of Rhode Island and Johnson & Wales University and has been featured on the 2007 Women of Influence list in New England Foodservice and by Providence Business News as a young business professional in its 2003, “Young Guns,” article and again in 2005’s, “40 Under Forty.”
Originally a native of upstate New York, Singleton earned a bachelor’s in international business from Johnson & Wales University and an MBA from the Alan Shawn Feinstein Graduate School at Johnson & Wales University. She has also earned the designation of IOM from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management program, and she is a certified personalysis facilitator. Personalysis is a study on individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
