Effects of COVID on AirBnB

Short-Term & Vacation Rental Discussions
5yFollow

Effects of COVID on AirBnB

Stephanie Reinagel
Rental Property Investor · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2021 · 20 posts · 15 votes

Hey all. I'm wondering if anyone has Airbnb properties that can speak to how COVID has affected your occupancy rates. I've heard some say numbers are down and other day they're up. I'm looking to get into AirBnB but don't want to commit to the initial time and financial investment if the numbers are way down. Does anyone have resources to see the actual data for my area? I'm in the Phoenix area.

3Reply
198 views

Most Popular Reply

Carolyn Fuller
Cambridge, MA · Member since 2015 · 652 posts · 736 votes
5y

I think location makes a huge difference. Think about it. Where did you want to escape this past year? New York City? Boston? Probably not. The sea shore? The mountains? Lake region? Probably. 

Traditional vacation spots did very, very well in 2020. Urban markets, not so great. What will happen in 2021? Think about what you, your family and friends want to do as soon as life begins to look normal again. 

My husband and I traditionally schedule a week on the Cape each year. We extended it to 3 weeks in 2020 but we have not made Cape Cod reservations for 2021 because we aren't sure that is what we want to do when we come out of the long hibernation. We miss vibrant urban activities and we just might want to reserve all our 2021 vacation time to immersing ourselves in urban life again. 

6Reply
See this reply in the discussion

42 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Karl McGarvey
    Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2019 · 763 posts · 500 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel this is 100% market dependent but in true vacation areas I think the majority of owners had fantastic years due to the amount of people being forced to travel domestically. More customers came from somewhere within driving distance instead of flying. Will this continue into 2021? If the idea that everyone needs to be tested prior to getting on an airplane passes, then yes.

    0Reply
  • Dan Schwartz
    Real Estate Investor · Tempe, AZ · Member since 2012 · 874 posts · 648 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel. good plan.  I would scour the forums for any feedback from people in our metro.  It used to be that you'd make the revenue you needed for the entire year (or more!) in February and March (Phoenix Open through Spring Training).  With those events curtailed for now, different strategies are required.  I can't personally offer any current advice, as we made the decision in Nov 2019 to convert from Airbnb to long term rental.  But surely there are others with their finger on the pulse locally.  You have to get some local opinions in addition to the success stories people have shared from other places.  Good luck!

    0Reply
  • Davina Kraeger
    Nashville, TN · Member since 2018 · 5 posts · 1 vote
    5y

    What I hear is that Airbnb that are in a country setting, mountains, beaches have still done well (if not better).  We, however, invested in in-town rentals (specifically Nashville) which have not done so well.  Things at least at our 4 bedroom home are picking up for the Spring, but at about 1/2 the rate of our usual Spring rates.  So far the downtown 1 bedroom is close to a coma state.  It's a condo and gets buried under the other condo rentals in my building.  From my view Airbnb is putting the Plus listings first and they are getting booked but not enough bookings to go around right now.

    0Reply
  • Allen Williams
    Realtor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2019 · 95 posts · 87 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel

    I personally believe COVID is going to increase demand for short term rentals because they are not as crowded as the hotels and also need to think about traveling nurses stopping by if near major city/hospital. We are seeing a lot of demand down here in FL!

    0Reply
  • Caleb Drake
    Real Estate Agent · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2020 · 210 posts · 138 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel

    I can speak for the NWFL panhandle. My occupancy rates are through the roof and a lot of the bookings are for longer stays. Not like monthly, but weekly versus a three day stay. We are on track to do about $5-7k more in bookings this year. That equates from higher rates and probably 10% more stays. We maintain about 85% occupancy annually.

    0Reply
  • Claire Rosenberg
    Property Manager · New York City · Member since 2017 · 61 posts · 28 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel nice to meet you virtually! I am on the co-hosting side of managing other people's properties. With COVID we have been on the high occupancy front as people want to get away. I have full access to Airdna (market research tool) so happy to take a look and analyze any properties you are interested in to see if they would be a good fit as a STR.

    0Reply
  • Mike Anderson
    Rental Property Investor · Clayton, GA · Member since 2020 · 186 posts · 152 votes
    5y

    I was told Jan and Feb are slow months, and yet i am almost totally booked. Life is good!

    1Reply
  • Christina Dillard
    Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2019 · 15 posts · 3 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel in LA things got weird. Tourists and business travelers disappeared, and locals with no other options became the norm. Plus those asking for audacious discounts (on already historic lows) soared.

    Friends w/ Airbnb’s in cities with vacation rental driven economies have been crushing it during covid. Esp. the places where tourists drive to the destination.

    This side by side comparison has turned us off to short term rentals, and has moved us to consider the long term cash flow numbers prior to acquiring a property. Airbnb is a great cash cow while it lasts, but when the regulations show up it’s no bueno.

    1Reply
  • Amanda JacobellisBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Southern California · Member since 2020 · 96 posts · 43 votes
    5y

    Hi @Stephanie Reinagel I recommend you study your location and get average rents over covid and

    non  covid years. You can use airdna or all the rooms.com to reasearch. When I ran my numbers I took an average then did A wost case Scenario 

    The key right now is being In a driving distance location. People are not wanting to fly yet. 

    [email protected]310-497-8385
    Jacobellis Group531 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    0Reply
  • Beth Vandroff
    Property Manager · Lakewood Ranch, FL · Member since 2020 · 13 posts · 4 votes
    5y

    One of the BEST years yet and Summer of 20201 and Season 2022 already well under way!!!  

    0Reply
  • Matt Moreland
    Realtor · Lubbock, TX · Member since 2016 · 165 posts · 155 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel

    Hi, Stephanie!

    We’ve got ours in Lubbock, TX (West Texas in the High Plains area) and we have had one of our best years ever. We are by no means a vacation destination, but as many people are saying, anywhere that isn’t the coastal markets is having a large influx of visitors (some becoming permanent).

    Not sure what the market is like where you’re at in AZ specifically, but things like proximity to hospitals is another huge bonus if you’ve got it. Tons of hospitals are requiring travel nurses just to give their W2 folks a break, and those nurses and other frontline workers need nice places to stay which can lead to consistent and long term AirBnB reservations.

    1Reply
  • Andrew Kitchell
    San Francisco · Member since 2020 · 6 posts · 1 vote
    5y

    @Emanuele Pani

    Great question - slightly nuanced answer here! We've seen people like Matt do fantastic, and urban areas / corp travel zones have been devastated.

    While every market is different, I'd note that:

    - "Drive to" destinations have never done better

    - For short-term stays (<15 nights) urban areas are still depressed, and probably years from a full recovery (for short-term stays)

    - For mid-length stays (>15 nights) urban areas are doing well

    - ALL markets have seen a huge shift in two CRITICAL pricing/revenue drivers :: Length of Stay & Lead time.

    There is obviously a LOT more to share here, but those are some of the general trends.

    0Reply
  • Andrew HaneyPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Buckley, WA · Member since 2020 · 76 posts · 14 votes
    5y

    @Emanuele Pani

    Have you ever used another estimation platform outside of airdna?

    0Reply
  • Rachel K.
    New to Real Estate · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2020 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    5y

    @Emanuele Pani thanks for sharing the airdna link, this is super helpful in my property search.

    0Reply
  • Emanuele Pani
    Rental Property Investor · Boca Raton, FL · Member since 2014 · 104 posts · 55 votes
    5y

    @Andrew Haney I also look at the market stats from pricelabs which I use as my dynamic pricing software.

    0Reply
  • Andrew HaneyPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Buckley, WA · Member since 2020 · 76 posts · 14 votes
    5y

    @Emanuele Pani

    Thanks.

    0Reply
  • Tommy Sowell
    Investor · Waianae, HI · Member since 2014 · 107 posts · 42 votes
    5y

    @Stephanie Reinagel

    Well COVID killed the Hawaii market with not letting people into the state without we had tons of cancellation we lost $5000.00 a month but we live in paradise

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free