Airbnb Collapse & The Lakes Region?

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by Merrymeeting

Last week, The Boston Globe had an article about how the summer rental business on The Cape has collapsed. Rentals running at 20%+ vacancies. It was mostly attributed to things having become too expensive (with short term rental owners as one reason) and too crowded. People are now going with other options.

We have a house in W Hyannisport, I was shocked to hear what some of our neighbors were charging to rent their places via VRBO or Air BnB. A lot of people have bought houses thinking they can easily Air BnB or similar, but as noted the market has shifted some. The Cape, like our area needs housing for the people that work there.

[dickiej]

Somewhat related I guess…I sell advertising for our local newspaper out here in Hood River, OR, a thriving tourist town in the Columbia River Gorge. Real estate prices and rents are through the roof…just about everywhere I go, businesses owners tell me the same thing, “I don’t want to advertise because if I get any busier, I will have to hire more employees and no one can afford to live here.”
Our newspaper has an opening for a reporter…four candidates have been offered the position, but all four have turned it down because it doesn’t pay enough to afford an apartment. We have a lot of air bnb and vrbo rental property. I guess short term rentals have severely diminished the amount of long term rentals.

[jbolty]

I used to use airbnb a fair amount when traveling but not since about 2019. the add on fees are crazy and it's way too expensive for just a couple days.

my friend looked at a place in holderness for a weekend $350/night. $150 cleaning + $100 airbnb fee $1000

Common Man inn was about 1/2 that

[garysanfran]

Originally Posted by jbolty

I used to use airbnb a fair amount when traveling but not since about 2019. the add on fees are crazy and it's way too expensive for just a couple days.

my friend looked at a place in holderness for a weekend $350/night. $150 cleaning + $100 airbnb fee $1000

Common Man inn was about 1/2 that

However, is this not the difference between a hotel room and a house with amenities? I've seen some impressive AB&B houses for rent.

[WinnisquamZ]

Originally Posted by garysanfran

However, is this not the difference between a hotel room and a house with amenities? I've seen some impressive AB&B houses for rent.

Absolutely. It all depends on ones expectations. We don’t spend much time in the room.


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[jbolty]

Originally Posted by garysanfran

However, is this not the difference between a hotel room and a house with amenities? I've seen some impressive AB&B houses for rent.

I only started using it originally because it was a lot cheaper than a hotel and generally I just want a place to sleep. Last airbnb for me was in New Orleans for Jazzfest week and it worked out great to be less expensive and way less crazy then being in the french quarter

If I was coming to the lake for a week and wanted a water front house or whatever then paying a couple hundred in fees is no big deal but they are dead for short term rentals if the add on fees are as much as the nightly rate.

[marinewife]

We started visiting NH in 2010 thru AirBnB summer rentals all over the state on different lakes for a week's vacation. (My husband had lived in NH in the 70's.)

Our choices were modest smaller homes, nothing was really pricey, and it helped us decide which area to retire to within 5 summers.

I think lately the fees have really climbed, cleaning fees, admin fees, etc, but we liked the choice of catching the fish and cooking it for dinner as well as the extra space.

We're grateful we had the opportunity to see so many different towns to decide.

[LoveLakeLife]

Originally Posted by marinewife

We started visiting NH in 2010 thru AirBnB summer rentals all over the state on different lakes for a week's vacation. (My husband had lived in NH in the 70's.)

Our choices were modest smaller homes, nothing was really pricey, and it helped us decide which area to retire to within 5 summers.

I think lately the fees have really climbed, cleaning fees, admin fees, etc, but we liked the choice of catching the fish and cooking it for dinner as well as the extra space.

We're grateful we had the opportunity to see so many different towns to decide.

Fill us in! Where you decide and why? Where did you not decide and why not?!


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[Redbarn]

VRBO and Airbnb fees have gotten crazy for both hosts and guests. Once the rental cross I think around 5k the fees add up to around 1k on VRBO. Crazy.

However people really don't understand the cleaning fee. It is carved out so you aren't paying taxes and fees on the cost of cleaning. And contrary to popular believe hotels do charge you for fees and cleaning and carve it out so you are not paying taxes on it. Last time I noticed it in the fine print it was 35 bucks to clean the room. Vrbos cleanings are entire home or condo typically and cleaners are charging 85 bucks and hour. So seeing cleaning fees for a home around 150 to 200 is very typical.