Vaction Rental vs Long-Term Rental

[Keith Chew]

I am curious, is there was a way to find out how often properties in a certain area were being rented on Airbnb or VRBO? I want to figure out if it makes more sense to turn a property in the Tampa Bay area into a vacation rental rather than a long term rental. 

[Craig Curelop]

@Keith Chew - I have a hard time grappling with the idea of "vacancy" when it comes to short term rentals. I have three AirBnbs in Denver and while granted, Denver is a very popular place to visit, I have at most 2 or 3 vacancies a month in all 3 units. 

If I have a vacant day coming up in the next 3-5 days, I drop the price so it gets filled. I would rather get $20 for my $60 a night AirBnb than $0. 

The best part about dropping the price to crazy low, is that the people who stay there don't know you are kind of desperate to fill it up. Because of this, they will usually write you a review that says "WOW Great value!" or "So awesome for the price."  The price doesn't show up next to the review so other people looking to book at the higher price, see that review, and think the place is amazing.