How will staycations affect vacation rentals?
Perhaps it was 9/11 that began to the slow descent of what was once a nation of xenophiles. For whatever reason, the age of the staycation has begun. What is a staycation? Wikipedia defines a staycation as a vacation taken close to one’s home. A quick search on google will tell you, that as gas prices rose to historic highs last year, the staycation became more and more prevalent. The question is how did this affect the vacation rental market?
Bill Furlong, in his blog Escapia, compared vacation rentals from 2007 and 2008 by region. Some regions saw losses of up to 30%!
While the vacation traveler only makes up a small percentage of sales for the average corporate housing provider, it’s still a sale nonetheless. What’s more, as retirement accounts crashed with the stock market over the past year, retired couples who travel for extended periods of time have shortened their usual trips. This means that corporate housing has lost out to the hotel industry in areas that see a lot of vacation rentals, like Florida.