For the last six years, the Desert Yacht Club has been the primary source of inspiration for Alessandro Giuliano. The Italian version of Rolling Stone featured the off-the-grid glamping site, as well as lists of epic luxury camping experiences and films. The walk-the-plank setup designed by Mr. Giuliano encourages his guests to wiggle two feet above actual sharks teeth to facilitate their imaginations.
The 47-year-old Italian artist pulled his last listing off an online booking platform around three months ago because of tensions with neighbors and a shift in how the Joshua Tree area regulates short-term rentals and glamping facilities. He would have to disassemble the club and build a traditional house in order to get a permit that would satisfy the new rules in San Bernardino County. He said that he can't drive anywhere in the region without seeing new luxury rentals, which have no trouble obtaining permits.
He stood in front of his empty Desert Yacht Club and said, "You put someone out in the desert in a fancy house with a big flat-screen TV and a fireplace on the screen instead of a real fire."
Tensions over visitors have been a part of the area's story for years. As the Pandemic has boosted Joshua Tree's appeal for travelers, transplants and investors, it has created new problems.
Desert lovers have renovated cabins and set up facilities for tourists. The pattern is so large that investors from Los Angeles, New York, China and elsewhere are rushing in to buy land to build homes specifically for Vrbo.
The pace of growth is very fast. Joshua Tree is one of the top two fastest-growing markets in California and one of the top 25 fastest-growing markets in the United States, according to data from AirDNA, a company that collects and analyzes data from Airbnb. The town of Joshua Tree and the nearby town of Yucca Valley issued more than a thousand permits in the next two years, according to data from San Bernardino County. There were more than 2000 listings in Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley on Vrbo and Airbnb in March, more than four times as many as there were four years ago.
According to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle, the average price of a home in Joshua Tree and surrounding areas has risen more in the past two years than in any other part of California. A real estate agent in Joshua Tree said that plots are now selling for four times the price in 2019.
It is the same story that has played out in destinations like Miami Beach, New York City, and Barcelona. On social media and in public forums there are debates about short-term rentals and rising rents. Some parts of the region have begun requiring noise monitoring devices and have capped the number of homes that can become short-term rentals. The spirit of the place and the beautifully odd trees are being destroyed by all the construction and rules.
Chris Hanley, the producer of the movies American Psycho and Spring Breakers, said this is the future look of the American West. Mr. Hanley believes that modern architecture is good for the area. Guests can swim in the indoor pool that stretches from the kitchen to the rear bedroom for up to $6,000 a night.
I'm standing inside a house that is nearly finished and destined for Airbnb. Maybe it's Tulum. It's hard to believe that two years ago this was an empty plot that was selling for $40,000. If it wasn't for the Joshua trees, we wouldn't be in the high desert.
"WOW, Joe, this is beautiful," says J. Ovier Alvarez, a team leader for Coldwell Banker. Joe, the land, as we walk past an electric fireplace embedded in a wall of gray tiles to the bedroom, which features a regal nine-foot tall headboard. When Mr. Zhang spotted us, he invited us in.
We love art and architecture, you have the space for it here, said Mr. Zhang as he and his sister showed us mock-ups for a new compound. The floating box was designed to appear as if it was levitating. Somewhere, their property management and development company, will own around 40 rentals once these and 31 other homes are completed. The current nine are booked around 90 percent of the time.
Five years ago, the siblings moved to California from Shenzhen, China, without a clear plan other than that they were ready to move on from advertising and commercial photography.
They stumbled upon Joshua Tree, which is a good place to start our American dream.
A dream brought the Desert Yacht Captain to Joshua Tree. The installation artist became enamored with the idea of creating art in the desert after visiting. He liked that the land he purchased lacked hookups. There were many artists and musicians.
He said that it felt like there was a movement starting to take hold.
Joshua Tree has been drawing artists, musicians, architectural experimentalists, self-identified weirdos, and others seeking inspiration and self-actualization for decades.
When Mr. Giuliano towed a boat from Pismo Beach, Calif., to the top of his hill in 2016 it was the way that many transplants were funding their dreams that was different. Mr. Giuliano was overwhelmed with requests for his vintage trailers and canvas tents.
Something else was changing that would set the stage for the rental gold rush.
The Joshua Tree House, a 1949 ha, was designed by the husband and wife interior design duo. The house, which they renovated in a palate of neutrals, now has more than 300,000 followers on the photo-sharing app, and a store for shopping your room.
There were many renovated Joshua Tree rentals with the same metal cowboy tub and wicker swings that were mocked on the internet. A new type of visitor was attracted by the photos of these spaces.
There was a feeling that the new desert economy could make dreams come true. Several developers said that you could come up with something weird or modern and build it and get your money back through Airbnb.
After Covid canceled your violinist husband's tour, you could move to the desert, build a stage next to a Joshua tree, and host free drive-in concerts. You would have 50 people there weekly, and guests at a nearby glamping setup, which is annoyingly on your private road. This is what happened to the owner of the ranch.
The gold rush might be out of control, but it came at different points for different players. The residents who complained about newcomers treating the desert like a playground were not happy about it. There were stories of investors pushing out long-term renters.
The new construction and climate change threatened to drive the Joshua trees into extinction, so it became harder to ignore them.
Mr. Cumming petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to protect the western Joshua trees under the state's Endangered Species Act. The commission will make a decision in June. The policy requires a state permit before trimming, moving or building within 10 feet of a tree, which is objected to by several construction and real estate groups.
Forty percent of Joshua trees are on private land, according to Mr. Cumming. His view changed when science showed that they were struggling.
A sculptor sued Ms. Herrera so that he and his guests could use a dirt road that runs across her 15-acre property.
Mr. Giuliano was the Desert Yacht Captain.
In the fifth hour of the forum on short-term rentals in San Bernardino County, I heard a woman tell her story. She showed me the dirt road that leads to the Desert Yacht Club after three weeks.
Ms. Herrera and her husband, a professional violinist from Paris, got along well with their Italian neighbor, who explained that he often used the road that ran along the border of their two parcels. She told him that he could use it.
Ms Herrera realized that Mr. Giuliano's guests were also going to cross their land in the middle of concerts.
Looking ahead. The travel industry hopes this will be the year that travel comes roaring back after governments loosen coronaviruses. What to expect.
There is lodging. Travelers discovered the privacy offered by rental residences. They hope to compete by offering stylish extended-stay properties, sustainable options, rooftop bars and co-working spaces.
Rental cars. Travelers can expect higher prices and older cars with high mileage since companies still haven't been able to expand their fleets. Are you looking for an alternative? Car-sharing platforms might be more affordable.
Cruises. Demand for cruises remains high despite a bumpy start to the year. Because they sail on smaller ships and steer away from crowded destinations, luxury expedition voyages are particularly appealing right now.
There are destinations. Travelers are eager to explore the sights and sounds of a city like Paris or New York. Some resorts in the U.S. are experimenting with an almost all-inclusive model that takes the guess work out of planning a vacation.
Experiences. Sexy travel options include couples retreats and beachfront sessions with intimacy coaches. Trips with an educational bent are becoming more popular with families with children.
She said that if it was just him, there wouldn't be a problem. It's chaos.
Mr. Giuliano sued the Herreras after they told his guests they were not welcome.
Their conflict is typical of tensions throughout the region. There were just eight complaints about short-term rentals in San Bernardino County in 2019. By 2020, that figure had increased to 439 before falling to 362 in 2021. There have been stories about residents threatening to show up with guns and noisy visitors at recent community meetings.
Mr. Giuliano told me that he wasn't going to hurt his neighbors. It is not uncommon for you to have access to an unofficial road after you have used it for five years. He said that a lawyer advised him that there was no official road to his property and that a longer, circuitous path was required.
Mr. Giuliano realized that his desert dream might be over after the couple counterued. When he was served with a property violation for a New Year's Eve party that his guests were planning, he had this suspicion again. He received a letter from the county telling him that he needed a short-term rental permit or he would be fined.
There is no clear-cut way to get a permit that allows for renting unconventional structures like trailers or even allowing guests to set up tents, so he was in a challenging situation. The county confirmed that no one enforced the rule until after the Pandemic hit.
Mason Smith, the head of Government and Community Relations for Hipcamp, said that hundreds of other private campgrounds in the area are in the same situation.
David Wert, a spokesman for the county, said that the county can allow tents, yurts and Airstream camps the same way they do houses because they raise the potential for safety problems.
The community is trying to decide if short-term rentals are helping or hurting the area. San Bernardino's board of supervisors is expected to announce modified rules in the summer. The percentage of housing stock that can become short-term rentals is not expected to be limited by the county.
According to the company, short-term rentals give residents a way to supplement their income, creating tens of thousands of jobs, and generating tax revenue statewide. Vrbo didn't respond to a request for comment.
Some worry that luxury rentals are pushing out families and creating a ghost town feel.
Since she was 4 years old, Tonya Hansel has been living in the area. She has been cleaning short-term rentals for eight years. She works seven days a week. She said that seeing her daughter is better than her previous job as a body piercer.
She lost her rent last month, which allowed her family to survive on $65 to $150 a cleaning.
When she moved into her two-bedroom apartment on the north side of downtown Joshua Tree, there were only a few short-term rentals nearby, but they were in nicer neighborhoods.
The investors began to see her neighborhood as prime lodging territory. She said that as renovators outnumbered heavy drug users, it cleaned up the neighborhood. She realized that the families she used to run into were gone and that most houses were short-term rentals with the same white, black and gray paint, fence and fairy lights.
These didn't seem to be owned by the artists and freaks of the world like her client Mr. Giuliano of the Desert Yacht Club. They were owned by people who thought rentals were easy money.
Ms. Hansel's lease was going to be terminated in 60 days. She said it was impossible to find a place because it was either anAirbnb or it was three times what she could afford.
She found a temporary one-bedroom in Landers at the last minute. Ms. Hansel said that her daughter can no longer walk to school. She said that they are safe for now.
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