STR Investors in the Poconos, PA

[Justin Battiste]

Happy Friday everyone!

For all of the investors with STR properties in the Poconos ( i.e., Albrightsville, Lake Harmony, Emerald Lake, Pocono Lake), have you found more success renting with smaller occupancy based home (2 & 3bdrms) vs the mid size occupancy based homes ( 4 & 5bdrms)? Obviously, better ADR, but do you find that it is easier to rent the bigger homes because of less competition while achieving your projected ADR, or is it actually more difficult based on the avg length of stay and avg size family?

I know that amenities ( hot tub, being close to lake, community pool(s), nice size decks, fire pits, game rooms) are very important and will allow your house to show up more frequently for guests shopping on Airbnb & VRBO, but do you find that having a larger size property also makes you stand as long as the property is unique/different?

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Justin Battiste

[Phillip Costa]

The larger properties do much better in terms of total revenue per bedroom than the small 2-3bedroom homes. The smaller homes you have a lot more flexibility with stays and can get booked last minute for shorter stays while larger properties tend to book much further in advance. You also benefit from economies of scale with larger properties. For example, when comparing a 3bedroom vs 6bedroom that’s double the amount of bedroom but expenses aren’t double. Depending on the amenities provided, it may be 15-20% more if excluding the pass-through expense of cleaning fees.