Short Term Rentals During the Pandemic

7 key take aways for hosts during this transitional time

Takeaway 1 - If you're buying ad space for your rental, focus on metropolitan areas within half a days drive (300 miles). Do no cross border advertising.

Prior to the pandemic our average guest travelled 807 miles to reach our location (during the pandemic, 580 miles). The map below shows our 'pre pandemic' guest's home city. Our results are slightly skewed because of our close proximity to the closed Canadian border (many of the 'close' visitors we would have expected, specifically from Toronto, can not reach our location due to the closed border). We suspect the average host would see a greater discrency between pre and post pandemic visitor travel miles, if they had access to the data.

If you are purchasing advertising for your rental, focus on the larger metropolitan areas within a half days drive (roughly 300 miles).

Maps are from myguestmap.com, data for these maps were parsed from standard Airbnb host data.

Guests are less on vacation, and more just getting away from home

The next 5 take aways are all derived from the idea that your guests aren't considering this a vacation, but more a 'we need to get out of the house'.

Overall, your ratings are going to take a bit of a hit

It's long been our opinion that the best guest arrives to do something exciting in the city, and is using our place as just a place to stay for the night. The less a guest 'lives' in the unit, the better off we are. That's the opposite of what these guests are doing. With just about everything closed (no concerts, no games, no events) and limited bar and restaurant space, these guests are spending far more time in the unit.

Guests are more apt to arrive with food, that they plan to cook. They are more apt to stay in and watch tv. They are more apt to use the wireless to do 'work from home'.

Takeaway 2 - Guests are more likely to use the amenities you have listed. Make sure they work, or you'll hear about it. (Specifically wifi or cable tv)

Spotty wifi may be ok when a traveller was in for one night to watch a hockey game in person. It doesn't cut it if they have a 9AM zoom call where they are presenting to the board.

Takeaway 3 - Guests are going to play 'chef'.

Pre-pandemic, our guests went to restaurants located nearby. We feel it is a combination of restaurants having reduced capacity/fear of the virus, and the trip being 'less vacation, more stacation' (more on budget than a regular trip).

Kitchen needs a dish rack. That was one recent comment, probably deserved, but something no previous guest had ever mentioned. (Guest doing dishes? What a surprise!)

Takeaway 4 - Your cleaner may be grumbling.

With all of this additional 'staying in the room', the units are dirtier when guests leave. Obviously this varies by guest, but overall, we feel units are, on average, left in a worse condition than for a similar length stay pre-pandemic. Upping your cleaning fee might be warranted. We are also seeing an increase in the number of guests travelling with pets, which isn't helping your cleaner, but leads us to...

Takeaway 5 - Have Dog, Will travel

People on a budget, driving to your location, are far more likely to bring a pet. If you are not allowing animals, I suspect your occupancy is taking a bit of a hit.

Takeaway 6 - People are taking greater notice of cleanliness of the unit

Two things in play here. Staying in the unit more, leads to guests finding more things to critique. That dust bunny under the chair may have gone unnoticed before, but it now gets the guest questioning how clean the unit is. It's our belief that guests that are really concerned about covid, will choose not to travel. On the otherhand, we have had some guests that have had to travel for work (not sure what kind of work), but they have an increased level of concern about how the room was cleanded prior to their arrival.

We feel an increased concern on the guests part is reasonable. However, it's not as if a host can wave a wand, and have the pandemic stop at our properties edge. We ask guests that seem overly concerned, pre-arrival, to look for other accomodations.

Takeaway 7 - Bookings are much more likely to be last minute

Travelling by car, guests can do much more last minute planning. Where we would normally be booking months in advance, it's now weeks or days(or even hours). We feel we are offering are space at a bit of a discount, but our occupany rates have been comparable for July and August to the same period in previous years.

Agree? Disagree? We'd be interested to hear your take on our Facebook page.