Short term rentals that are not in vacation destinations

[Anthony Phillips]

I was wondering if any members on here have had success in markets that don't fit the destination/vacation type areas. For example I am located about 40 mins from Nashville Tennessee are people renting that far from a destination?  I am also about 3 1/2 hours from the smoky mountains are people using a short term rental as they drive to there next destination. I do see a few air bnb rentals in my areas and it looks like they are at about a 50% rented per month. With that being the case they wouldn't cash flow much more then my long term rentals in the area.

Another idea we have been thinking about is having a tiny house on our property. The only problem we have with that is we are on septic so we wouldn't be able to add it to the plumbing system. Are there pre made tiny houses set up on trailers that have plumbing systems systems similar to a camping trailer that i could take to the dump after a renter is done with there stay. I could purchase a plot of land and put it on that but think that cost of doing septic/water/and power would be pretty high for the returns we could get off the rental.

[John Carbone]

Quote from @Anthony Phillips:

I was wondering if any members on here have had success in markets that don't fit the destination/vacation type areas. For example I am located about 40 mins from Nashville Tennessee are people renting that far from a destination?  I am also about 3 1/2 hours from the smoky mountains are people using a short term rental as they drive to there next destination. I do see a few air bnb rentals in my areas and it looks like they are at about a 50% rented per month. With that being the case they wouldn't cash flow much more then my long term rentals in the area.

Another idea we have been thinking about is having a tiny house on our property. The only problem we have with that is we are on septic so we wouldn't be able to add it to the plumbing system. Are there pre made tiny houses set up on trailers that have plumbing systems systems similar to a camping trailer that i could take to the dump after a renter is done with there stay. I could purchase a plot of land and put it on that but think that cost of doing septic/water/and power would be pretty high for the returns we could get off the rental.

If occupancy is that low, then I probably wouldn’t bother. It’s also summer, so it is probably even worse in the winter (unless you tracked this over the past year.) 

[Bruce Woodruff]

The trailer home thing is going to get pretty old, especially when you have same-day turnovers. I would just find an area where STRs work and are not restricted by the Govt.

[Paul Sandhu]

There is a refinery in my town that brings in outside labor for short term jobs.  Refinery contractors.  They are welders, fitters, boilermakers, electricians and inspectors.  I rent out my STRs to the contractors.  There is no tourism is this town.  The refinery processes about $16,000.00 of crude oil a minute.  It runs 24/7. I try to get 1/100 of 1% of that.

[John Underwood]

I'm personally am only going to buy a vacation rental in a vacation destination.

I buy places I'm proud to take family and friends to as part of a vacation.

[Carolyn Fuller]

One non-destination location type of Airbnb that I have booked that I suspect are reasonably successful are guest suites, ADUs, etc in homes off of highways or between / near destinations. I suspect that these listings help with the mortgages of the primary residences.

BTW, every single one of these Airbnbs have been really fabulous experiences, much nicer than the nearby hotels would have been.

[John Carbone]

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

One non-destination location type of Airbnb that I have booked that I suspect are reasonably successful are guest suites, ADUs, etc in homes off of highways or between / near destinations. I suspect that these listings help with the mortgages of the primary residences.

BTW, every single one of these Airbnbs have been really fabulous experiences, much nicer than the nearby hotels would have been.

I stayed at one of these on a cross country drive once near the major interstate. I wanted a safe place to have my Uhaul (didn’t want it in a hotel parking lot). 

[Carolyn Fuller]

Quote from @John Carbone:
I stayed at one of these on a cross country drive once near the major interstate. I wanted a safe place to have my Uhaul (didn’t want it in a hotel parking lot). 

Besides a safe parking spot, wasn't it better than your average hotel experience? Actually, I must be honest that I've rarely experienced hotels that match my Airbnb experiences. There are some but not many. (I'm obviously not a huge hotel fan and never have been...)

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

Besides a safe parking spot, wasn't it better than your average hotel experience? Actually, I must be honest that I've rarely experienced hotels that match my Airbnb experiences. There are some but not many. (I'm obviously not a huge hotel fan and never have been...)

I agree! The only 'hotels' that can come close are resorts and they are crazy expensive.... The only time I would ever stay in a hotel is if there were not any STRs in the area - which does happen sometimes, right?

[Anthony Phillips]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

The trailer home thing is going to get pretty old, especially when you have same-day turnovers. I would just find an area where STRs work and are not restricted by the Govt.

 Yah thats good advive. Only have one long term brrrr under my belt but I think I need to look out of state. It just seems like such a big step not being able to be at the property. I think having a good realtor and property manager would put my fears at ease.

[Anthony Phillips]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

The trailer home thing is going to get pretty old, especially when you have same-day turnovers. I would just find an area where STRs work and are not restricted by the Govt.

Yah that true I think the margins would be really good but yah alot of work.

[John Carbone]

Quote from @Carolyn Fuller:

Quote from @John Carbone:
I stayed at one of these on a cross country drive once near the major interstate. I wanted a safe place to have my Uhaul (didn’t want it in a hotel parking lot). 

Besides a safe parking spot, wasn't it better than your average hotel experience? Actually, I must be honest that I've rarely experienced hotels that match my Airbnb experiences. There are some but not many. (I'm obviously not a huge hotel fan and never have been...)

Yes, the airbnbs are much better experiences as well. I have a ton of reward points from hotel chains over the years and free night certificates that I use, but if I’m not staying for “free” at a hotel, I’m doing an Airbnb…with the exception when I need a extra safe place to park overnight. 

[Jerry W.]

I have several vacation rentals in the middle of Wyoming.  We have a few small tourist draws but not a lot.  I still do pretty well with VRs.  I just converted two of my long term rentals into VRs and I am working on a third.  I get a lot of folks on their way to Yellowstone, a good number of fishermen, travelers, workers only here for a few days or who bring their wives, folks visiting relatives, going to weddings or funerals, etc.  Folks use VRs for lots of things other than vacation.  More than half of my bookings are one night.

[Mackay Oakey]

Hi there Anthony, I'm going to share a few thoughts I had on both of your questions. First of all, in the STR book by Avery Carl (link) Avery talks about how well metro markets do, especially in situations like Covid. It might be helpful to check some data at AirDNA to understand the rates in different parts of the suburban area? My guess would be that people would rarely elect to stay 3.5 hours from the Smoky Mountains though, but I could obviously be wrong. As for the other part, airstreams tend to do well in place of something like a tiny home. I'm not sure if you could have the septic system emptied on site or if you would have to drive the trailer somewhere every week or so to get emptied, but could be a thought. (Link in case you're interested in airstream stuff).

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Mackay Oakey:

As for the other part, airstreams tend to do well in place of something like a tiny home. I'm not sure if you could have the septic system emptied on site or if you would have to drive the trailer somewhere every week or so to get emptied, 

I'm pretty certain that you would want to empty the tank after every guest's visit......just sayin'...