As one of the first Airbnb hosts in my area in 2012, I was booked constantly over the next eight years. While I no longer host on Airbnb, I am a member of several hosting forums and have seen a very telling trend.
The short-term rental industry is oversaturated.
These forums cover all short-term services such as Airbnb, Vacasa, Vrbo, and many more. A consistent complaint on these forums is that once fully booked properties (of all sizes) are now hard-pressed to get any bookings on any online booking service.
According to Hostaway, a vacation property website, Airbnb saw its strongest growth in gross nights booked outside of urban areas in the first three months of 2022. Due to the pandemic, guests were looking for rentals in more rural areas and away from crowds. This triggered a rise in the purchase of rural homes for rental purposes. In fact, Airbnb is also actively encouraging new hosts to come on board their website and offer up their properties for rent.
This also increased interest in more non-traditional rentals such as tiny houses, campers, and glamping sites. While the urban markets have been full of rental opportunities for years, rural areas are filling up as well.
There is no doubt that the revenue potential for short-term rentals is still viable, but will tiny houses for rent survive the influx of new hosts that are being encouraged to jump on the short-term bandwagon?
If you rent out your tiny house on Airbnb or another hosting site, here are a few things to keep in mind to stay relevant in an increasingly saturated market.
Research your area
Do a full search of all the kinds of rentals in your area. What do they offer that you can do better? Do you have a unique rental that you can expand on? This is also a good time to check on prices and make your price a little more appealing in the already increasing price zone.
Offer an extra experience
The trend for successful short term rentals is to add a little extra experience. Do you rent in a farming community where you can offer local foods or a dining experience? Are you in a tourist area where you can offer unique tours? Is your rental decorated with local items for sale?
Don’t overextend yourself
If you have a successful rental, stick with that business model for some time. Don’t go looking for another opportunity in a different location. Most importantly, don’t buy another short term rental on credit. If you have the money for another rental, then pay cash for it. Otherwise, stick with what you currently have and make that as successful as possible.
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]