Supporting local homeowners on Airbnb
Is the Airbnb you’re sleeping in helping a homeowner pay the mortgage or improving an investor’s bottom line?
In its early days, Airbnb was known as a disruptor to the hotel industry; a cheap alternative travelers could use while getting cozy in a local person’s home. Homeowners who wanted to make a little extra cash could offer extra space to travelers.
Somewhere in Airbnb’s 14-year evolution, the industry disruptor became disruptive to local communities. “Entire place” stays grew in popularity. Property investors took advantage of the trend, buying up homes that were once intended to be single family residences.
According to the vacation rental research firm AirDNA, listings in the United States are up nearly 25% this year. By May 2022, there were a total of 1.34 million short term rental units listed on Airbnb and VRBO.
Around the world, AirDNA reports the majority of Airbnb property managers only look after one rental unit, but 2022 has seen a large increase in managers who run more than 21 properties.
After a large dip at the beginning of the pandemic, hosting vacation rentals on Airbnb is on the rise again.
For travelers who are concerned about the commodification and gentrification of local communities, you may be wondering if the home you’re vacationing in is part of a growing problem.
It’s important to note that there are two distinct parties at play in the short term rental business: property owners and property managers. Sometimes owners will manage their own vacation rental business. This could mean they’re communicating with guests, fixing issues, and cleaning the unit(s) they own in between stays.
Other times, property owners hire a property management company to do some or all of the day-to-day management of the rental business. Companies like Vacasa and Evolve promise owners optimized listings to increase bookings with the day-to-day hassle of managing a business. In return, these managers take a percentage of the short term rental earnings.
Can travelers still support local homeowners?
The answer is yes, but first we must examine our travel consumer behavior. If you’re like me, you may default to searching for ‘entire place’ stays, which are more likely to be owned by investors instead of local people. These homes don’t have a permanent resident and they typically rent for more.
Are you willing to rent private rooms? If the answer is no (and there are many legitimate reasons why the answer may be no) use the following five steps to research properties before you book. These tips will help you find Airbnbs that are likely owned by local homeowners:
1. Check out the host’s profile
The easiest thing you can do is learn about the host. On Airbnb, click on the host’s bio and see what they tell you about themselves. The bio page will show if they’re hosting additional Airbnbs. If the host has multiple properties listed, they’re either a property manager or an owner who is self managing multiple vacation rentals.
Are there two co-hosts listed in the bio section? This is usually a sign that the owner is using a property manager to handle certain aspects of the short term rental business, although sometimes the co-host could be a trusted neighbor or friend who helps out when the owner is unavailable.
2. Review the listings photos
There are a couple reasons why you should analyze the listing photos. First, check for signs of a home someone actually lives in.
Kristen makes a good point in her twitter thread that homeowners will have more kitchen utensils and design choices that make their house unique to them. Investor-owned homes tend to have the sterile design choices of a hotel.
Click here to read the full thread on twitter.
Check the corners of the listing pictures. Some property management companies will put their logos in the corner of photos for properties they manage.
The other thing you can do with the listing’s images is use a reverse image search to see if the vacation rental is listed on other accommodation websites. Short term rental units that are listed across several hotel and rental booking sites are more likely to be part of a full time vacation rental business rather than a homeowner’s side hustle.
Occasionally, a reverse image search may help you find an owner’s website where they’ve listed their property directly. This gives you an opportunity to learn more about the property and contact the owner directly for more information.
3. Analyze the listing’s description
Does the listing’s description read like it was written by a computer using keywords to get a higher ranking? Or is it a more natural description of a lived-in space?
Property management companies often use writing templates to describe their short term rental listings. These descriptions may sound like what a realtor writes to describe a home for sale.
4. Understand the local regulations for short term rentals
Cities like Los Angeles and New York have already implemented strict rules regarding short term rentals. Los Angeles homeowners may only rent out their primary residence, a home they live in for at least half of the year. In New York, hosts have to stay in the property when they’re renting it for less than 30 days, and they’re not allowed to list more than one short term rental property at once.
Many places remain unregulated, so be aware of local short term rental ordinances and how they impact listings where you’re planning to go.
5. Ask the host
You can always cut to the chase and send a private message. Ask the host in your own words or send either of the messages I’ve written below. I’m a fan of asking directly, but I’ve included a second option for people who may want to be a little more subtle.
Direct:
Hi! I love your place and am considering booking it. Do you own this rental? If so, is this your first home or vacation home, or do you rent this out full time? I’m interested in supporting local homeowners. Thank you!
More subtle:
Hi! I love your place and am considering booking it but was hoping for something [with an extra bed/closer to downtown/cater this section]. Do you have any other rentals I can look at?
These tips should help you book short term rentals from local homeowners more often. It’s also a window into the large (and growing!) business of vacation rentals.
Speaking of a growing business, here are some more stats from AirDNA: 2021 set a record for number of nights spent in short term rentals in the U.S., but 2022 is on pace to beat that record by 20%.
As the short term rental industry sees record growth, it'll be up to conscientious travelers to decide what portion of the market they will choose to support.