The travel industry in the United States is losing an average of
$1.6 billion per day from COVID-19, leaving cities across the country reeling
from the lack of revenue and local lawmakers grappling with how to responsibly
revive economies that rely on tourism dollars.
Vacation rentals have served as a
rare bright spot amid the prolonged economic downturn as families,
frontline health workers and newly minted remote workers sought out socially
distanced lodging options.
According to a joint
report from STR and AirDNA, from early
April 2020 to early July 2020, the global vacation rental
industry experienced a 257% increase in global bookings and
average length of stay also increased by 58% during the crisis.
Vacation rentals play a critical role
in local economies, providing essential tax revenue to cities; supporting jobs
for maintenance workers, landscapers, housekeepers and other contractors; and
keeping tourism dollars circulating within communities as visiting families
patronize locally owned businesses.
To ensure that vacation rentals’ V-shaped
recovery is an enduring trend, all key players in the industry
must proactively partner with city and state governments on effective
public policy.
Policy that works
A holistic approach to
public policy, grounded in open dialogue and productive partnership with all
community stakeholders, has proven successful in helping advance fair and
effective regulations across the country. For example, La Quinta, a desert city
in southern California, recently adopted an ordinance that allows responsible
vacation rentals operations to continue while simultaneously addressing
neighborhood concerns - ensuring that vacation rentals can contribute to the
city’s long-term economic growth.
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Similarly, historic
agreements have been reached in San Diego, Kauai and Honolulu as
a result of key stakeholder engagement within these communities.
In
San Diego, that engagement included City Council members and UNITE
HERE, a leading labor union, among others, to reach a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) on how to safely and effectively regulate vacation
rental properties through comprehensive new guidelines - a milestone,
first-of-its-kind agreement, which is also endorsed by San Diego’s
local short-term rental owners and managers alliance, Share San Diego.
The
proposed vacation rental ordinance was the result of this MOU, and it was
unanimously endorsed by the city’s Planning Commission before being forwarded
to the City Council for a vote later this month.
In Hawaii, MOUs have been signed
in both Kauai and Oahu, facilitating the
governments’ tracking and enforcement of illegally operated vacation rentals
while ensuring that communities can still enjoy the economic benefits provided
by responsible properties and operators as safe travel resumes.
Trusted solutions
Working alongside local governments
to enact balanced regulations that promote post-pandemic recovery is only one
piece of the puzzle. Equally important is restoring and growing
traveler trust in booking their next getaway, and much of that
comes down to transparency around health and hygiene measures.
At the onset of the
pandemic, travel leaders including online travel platforms, the U.S.
Travel Association and the Vacation Rental Management Association came
together with public health officials to develop enhanced vacation rental
cleanliness guidelines based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and Cristal International
Standards.
To reassure travelers, it’s important that they can
filter online property listings based on the specific hygienic
procedures owners and property managers have adopted, allowing them to book and
travel with confidence.
Many owners and property managers also use tools
and resources available to them, such as cleanliness
checklists, to report on and add sanitation measures to
their individual property descriptions and listings.
In addition to providing
travelers with the tools they need to confidently search for and book their
next trip, a concern of many owners and property managers, along with the
communities they operate in, is how to be a good neighbor
and book respectful stays, meaning stays
that won’t disturb neighbors or damage hosts’
properties.
Innovative community initiatives, such as Stay Neighborly, is one way vacation rental owners and
managers can access resources to stay compliant with local
regulations and avoid community complaints. Data-powered technology
solutions are also supporting in this area, tapping into
companies like NoiseAware, a noise monitoring company, to
help prevent nuisance complaints before they occur.
Looking ahead
The
pandemic brought unprecedented shifts in the travel landscape, but while
travel dramatically slowed, travel planning did not, as 82%
of families already have travel plans for
2021.
And travel experts expect that vacation rentals will remain a
top choice for consumers going forward, contributing to economic recovery
efforts in every corner of this country.
Despite
increased traveler preference for vacation rentals, widespread economic
recovery depends on collaborative efforts between cities, platforms
and vacation rental owners and managers to enact balanced regulation
that builds a strong foundation for accelerated and sustained
growth, putting the travel and tourism industry in a position to
welcome travelers back when they’re ready to return safely and
confidently.
About the author...
Kevin Locraft is
Expedia Group’s vice president, partner success, vacation
rentals.