2018 Vacation Rental Trends

Tourism on the North Fork is important to the health of our economy – it brings new businesses, jobs, and growth needed to sustain the services essential to our community.  If you offer your home for short term rental or if you are a vacation home renter, you know that things are changing.  Unfortunately, the trends from what travelers desire to what the town allows are going in opposite directions. 

Understanding some of the underlying market factors should help landlords, tenants and town government make better decisions as to how to go forward.

Vacation rental homes versus hotels are attractive to travelers especially:

·        those who are pet lovers – 31% of travelers want to take their pets with them.

·        roadtrippers – 33% of travelers take trips within 250 miles of their home.

·        travelers with special diets – 6 in 10 households have at least one dietary restriction and the rest are probably concerned about their weight! 

·        The cost of a vacation rental for a family needed 3 or more bedrooms is definitely lower than multiple rooms in a hotel or inn.    

Trip length is an important factor.  A recent study*, revealed that trip length has shrunk over thet past 3 years and projects that the recent shift to travelers taking shorter-length trips will likely continue in 2018.  Short trips (4-6 nights) and longer vacations (over 7 nights) have decreased by 4% over the last 3 years, while long weekend trips have increased 8% since 2014.   The move toward shorter trips may be due to busy families, tighter budgets, and work pressures.  Nevertheless, the trend is there and last year’s local rental code move to a two-week minimum negatively impacted the number of people renting.  If trip lengths continue to shrink, it will continue to reduce rental traffic on the North Fork.  So perhaps we should address the exceptions and not apply  across-the-board solutions that negatively impact the economic balance  of region.

Vacation rental home owners should be aware of local regulations and understand the penalties. It’s important for the vacation home owner to put controls in place so that there are no complaints for noise and overcrowding, if they wish to continue to benefit from rental marketplace.  Not only is it important to properly screen and manage tenants, vacation home owners should have appropriate insurance and  get written confirmation from their insurance agent as to damages and liability coverage.

Although the environment has become more complex, vacation rentals still offer needed lodging on the North Fork and a revenue benefit for home owners.   If you decide to offer your home for a short term rental, be sure to educate yourself as to what you can and cannot do.  Be a good neighbor and screen your tenants.  The best way to protect yourself is to use a qualified, honest rental agent to assist you.

Source: 2018 Vacation Rental Trends Report, Homeaway.com, inc., December 12, 2017.