An as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a man about a short-term rental property in Texas.
Tye's four-bedroom house made him over $62,000 in revenue in 2021, but he has found it hard to stay booked at the same prices in the future. He is one of many hosts who have experienced a decline in their bookings as the number ofAirbnbs has outpaced the growth in demand for travel to them He gave booking documents to verify his nights booked.
The conversation has been edited to make it clearer.
Before we owned the house, we lived in it. We converted it to a long term rental when we moved out.
There is a house on three acres outside. The suburbs are probably not the best way to describe it.
After a year of living in the country, tenants would want to return to the suburbs. I was tired of dealing with that and it was turning over a lot.
We had a friend who had anAirbnb in McKinney, Texas, a suburb outside of Dallas, and I wanted to try out the short-term-rental thing. It has been about two years.
A 12-month rental would cost us $3,500 a month. It's been over $5,000 a month as a short-term rental over the last year.
It was easy to book in 2021. We're seeing a decline in new bookings, but it's not as bad as it would be. Overall, we have had a decline. We were booked a long time in advance, and now we have one vacant weekend every month.
The nights booked in 2022 were seven less than in the previous year. Revenue was down from the previous year.
Our bread and butter is usually extended families coming together for a wedding. Last year there was no competition on that house.
Quite a few more expensive homes have been coming up for sale this year.
The nightly rate can be as high as $400. If there is a home that is the same price as mine, I will lower it. I do it quite a bit.
My prices are adjusted according to my levels. If I look at my schedule and see that I have a vacancies 10 days out, I'll go on there and look as if I'm a guest and I'll lower my price.
I don't know what the competition is, are they people buying $1.2 million homes to rent out for $300 a night, or are they people buying homes to offset their buyer's remorse?
A lot of owners are stuck with a certain rate. If they get below that, they will be cheated. They may have a 50% vacancies because of their stubbornness with their rates.
I don't want to give the farm away, but I would rather be flexible on my rates than not book.
Is it possible that your bookings have slowed? Send your story to reporter Jordan Pandy.
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