On February 7, 2010, there will be a Super Bowl in Miami, FL. Every hotel room and corporate apartment is going to be booked, and not just by the 75,540 attendees who will be flocking to the stadium. There are also the cheerleaders, the high school dance teams, the Super Bowl Half Time Show performers, not to mention the NFL Teams themselves. And on top of that, every local restaurant, bar, and performance venue will be bringing in entertainment of their own, hoping to capture some of that extra business.
Here’s the catch: Any stay less than 7 months in Florida gets hit with the sales tax. And there’s something else you should be aware of… Although there are local corporate providers in Tampa (See SCH’s Tampa page), your best bet once you’ve exhausted this resource is the private owner. However, beware: Florida is facing the highest rate of foreclosure of any state in the US, at 18.81% as of last March. Which means two things:
1.) Many, many private owners are looking to rent out their second home to corporate housing.
2.) Be extra careful whom you rent from, so that your tenants don’t end up getting locked out of their apartment by the bank.
Here are some options for marketing your corporate apartment:
1.) Auction it off on eBay.
2.) Craig’s List. In this case, it’s not a bargain hunter’s paradise.
3.) Shop Corporate Housing.
Many states offer film incentives now, which can be lucrative to the corporate housing industry.
When British Columbia and in particular Vancouver offer huge tax incentives for filmmakers to move their business there, the money followed.
Now it seems like every state in the union is trying to get a piece of the pie. Michigan has had substantial success with landing new film contracts. SAG, or the the Screen Actors Guild, lists film incentives by state. If you want to get a step ahead of the ball, you may want to check out their website and figure out which states are offering the biggest incentives this year.
It isn’t just actors that land work in these states. The carpentry business will also see demand, and in our case, the corporate housing industry gets slammed with requests.
LA 411 and New York 411 both offer comprehensive lists of hotels, however there aren’t many providers listed. If you do business on either coast it might be worthwhile to list there.
The Michigan Film Office offers a list of corporate housing providers in the area. If you’re able to find corporate housing in Alaska, the Alaska Film Office has a list of accommodations as well.
One enterprising Michigan provider has even named themselves Film Crew Homes and seem to specialize only in film industry bookings.
There’s also the opportunity to house the film industry on a short-term basis during major film festivals such as South by Southwest, or Sundance. Sundance Accommodations Office should be able to offer some suggestions.
If you go on any production company forum, you realize that people in the film industry have long memories for people and events. Make a good impression, and you may end up criss-crossing the country with future productions.
