Wondering about vacancy rates for Air BnB in Tacoma, WA

[Erin Caldwell]

Hi everyone! We have a 2bed/1 bath craftsman home in Tacoma, Wa that we are considering doing short-term rentals in. It’s well maintained, has a beautiful yard, and is walking distance to bars and restaurants and a mile away from a university. We are weighing the pros and cons of air bnb vs long-term rentals. We don’t mind actively being involved in the process, cleaning, emails, etc. What we are more concerned about is: is Tacoma a popular place for air Bnbs? Does anyone else have short term rentals in smaller cities/towns and how much vacancy is there in a place like that?

[Tim S.]

We AirBnbed our place in Tacoma for about 4 months. It’s a big house near UPS, I was expecting it not to rent well, but was pleasantly surprised to rent it just about every weekend, and several times mid week. We were able to sleep about 12 people so would usually get larger groups. Most groups were not there for UPS, which surprised me. 

Much cheaper for them than hotels we were charging around $170/night.