Rental Property Investor · Hollis, NH · Member since 2017 · 108 posts · 67 votes
How are the short-term rental / AirBNB investors faring? At what point in the future are you seeing your bookings start to pick back up? Are locals picking up any of the near-term unmet demand? How are pure vacation rentals doing vs rentals in urban areas? Admittedly do not have any short-term rentals, but am curious to hear how people are navigating the current climate.
Real Estate Agent · USA · Member since 2016 · 909 posts · 1k+ votes
6y
@Kyle Joseph I own 6 pure vacation rentals, in 2 different vacation rental markets, one beach and one mountain. We had just enough “social distancing” guests who wanted to social distance in our places that we covered our expenses. Had this lasted a few more months we would probably have had to dip into our cash reserves. Both markets are phasing into opening up starting this week, and bookings have been steadily rolling in. Not up to non-pandemic numbers yet, but it’s swinging back towards normal.
Real Estate Agent · USA · Member since 2016 · 909 posts · 1k+ votes
6y
@Kyle Joseph I own 6 pure vacation rentals, in 2 different vacation rental markets, one beach and one mountain. We had just enough “social distancing” guests who wanted to social distance in our places that we covered our expenses. Had this lasted a few more months we would probably have had to dip into our cash reserves. Both markets are phasing into opening up starting this week, and bookings have been steadily rolling in. Not up to non-pandemic numbers yet, but it’s swinging back towards normal.
Plantation, FL · Member since 2009 · 329 posts · 119 votes
6y
I'm slowly seeing demand creep back but our esteemed governor has extended the ban on STR's while leaving hotels, motels, inns, resorts, non-transient public lodging establishments, or time share projects open!
Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
6y
We are purely vacation rental. We had some cancelations and we canceled the rest of the April bookings. We have steady bookings coming in now and I am turning people away.
We have a lake house so people can social distance and still come have fun on the lake with their family.
I turned off instant bookings for now to make sure no one is coming in from a hot spot.
Investor · The worst town to live in, KS · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
6y
One month ago I had 73 people in my STRs, Today I have 2. For those of you that don't know, I rent my places to refinery contractors. The refinery makes jet fuel and diesel fuel. The lack of consumption of these fuels has taken up all available storage from production. All the storage tanks are filled, railcars are filled, pipelines are filled. There is no place to store the finished end product fuel. So this refinery and many others are idling. It's not shut down, but recirculating the intermediates.
New Bern, NC · Member since 2017 · 246 posts · 173 votes
6y
@Kyle Joseph
We are doing well. We are in a town where get get a mix of business travel, family travel, and vacation travel. We have always had a flexible cancellation policy pre-covid, which has always served us well. We bought our homes using long term rental analysis so did not fear at the beginning of the pandemic. Yes, alot of people cancelled. We dropped our nightly rate by 20%. Then more people booked for business travel. We ran 100% occupancy for April so we increased May pricing back to close to normal. We are getting bookings. We also just closed on another house thinking we would do LTR, but we will do airbnb after all. We feel very fortunate, and very grateful for the opportunity airbnb has given us to make the money we have made.
Rental Property Investor · Hollis, NH · Member since 2017 · 108 posts · 67 votes
6y
Glad to hear that on average, people seem to be surviving and seeing some semblance of "normal" in the future. I've been looking at a vacation rental in a town that I typically vacation in, but it's a challenging time to underwrite short-term/vacation rentals given some of the near-term uncertainty around bookings. I would think over the longer-term things will return back to normal, as I don't see this changing the behaviors of vacationers in the long-term. Short-term economic behaviors maybe. But I would venture to say a stand-alone vacation rental should be and "feel" safer than a hotel room since your not in as close proximity to other travelers, so that could bode well for short-term rentals in the near term.
Super frustrated...3 vacation rentals have been empty for weeks.. in Florida with the STR ban it has become beyond frustrating since they have allowed resorts and hotels, and timeshares to rent
Olympia, WA · Member since 2016 · 8k+ posts · 7k+ votes
6y
We have had 2 cancellations and 1 booking. Bookings are definitely slower than last year. But only losing 2 bookings with one saying they will rebook if their business is allowed to reopen is hopeful.
Rental Property Investor · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2018 · 46 posts · 76 votes
6y
Things still slow in Florida.
We had a good tourist season earlier this year so we have reserves left. Had almost all existing reservations cancel at end of March. A few scattered bookings since then help with the bills.
A short-term rental ban in Michigan and not able to show for long-term rentals shut that side of our business down. Tons of cancellations. Kept staff on full-time just to handle the cancellations and fighting with the vendors to get the fees back for the customers. Had to eat the credit card fees. A big sting. The governor just opened Michigan back up in a week for real estate, thankfully, but the ban on rentals continues.
Investor · Palo Alto, CA · Member since 2020 · 14 posts · 11 votes
6y
Our cabin in the Smokies have been picking up plenty of renters, just at a lower price than normal. And I see that the prices are starting to tick up for May and June. Lucky that the cabin is so secluded -- perfect for social distancing.
Rental Property Investor · Miami, FL · Member since 2016 · 173 posts · 206 votes
6y
@Kyle Joseph I’m in Miami. We have pivoted to medium-term rentals (1-3 month furnished rentals) and have booked enough just to cover expenses. Just trying to hold on until we can open back up again. Luckily for us, we were able to do pretty well when the Super Bowl came to town. Unluckily for us, vacation rentals were shut down during our high season of spring break. The ban on vacation rentals will probably ease up just as we go smack dab into the middle of slow season for us (Miami summer) so I’m using this time to do some much needed renovation work in the units that I’m not medium-term renting.
I’m in los Cabos Mexico. Pretty much all of March - June bookings have canceled and been granted full refunds by Airbnb despite my strict cancellation policy. Flights are definitely an issue.
I’ve had just one new booking in the last 2 months and it’s for June 2021! I’m hoping Nov-Apr rebounds.
Rental Property Investor · Ocala, FL · Member since 2011 · 49 posts · 19 votes
6y
On water in big bend area of Florida saw a loss of bookings in late March, April and May bc of travel restrictions....but had fill ins as people decided to social distance in a new local.....FL easing restrictions in area where house is located.....
Property Manager · Ridley, PA · Member since 2017 · 427 posts · 449 votes
6y
@Kyle Joseph NJ beach town shut down STR'S until June 1st at the earliest. All bookings up til June 1st cancelled. Calendar is open for post June 1 but have not had a new booking since Covid19. Obviously gonna be a down year.
Rental Property Investor · Tallahassee, FL · Member since 2018 · 19 posts · 24 votes
6y
We have several short term rentals in Port St Joe, FL which is on the Gulf in the Panhandle. We lost all reservations for March 15- May 31 but picked up some contractors working on hurricane damage in the area. I sent emails to DeSantis and all our elected officials asking that the ban on vacation rentals be lifted. We are being singled out (hotels are not closed) and it is very unfair. I would encourage all STR owners in Florida to do the same.