Effects of COVID on AirBnB

[Stephanie Reinagel]

Hey all. I'm wondering if anyone has Airbnb properties that can speak to how COVID has affected your occupancy rates. I've heard some say numbers are down and other day they're up. I'm looking to get into AirBnB but don't want to commit to the initial time and financial investment if the numbers are way down. Does anyone have resources to see the actual data for my area? I'm in the Phoenix area.

[Carolyn Fuller]

I think location makes a huge difference. Think about it. Where did you want to escape this past year? New York City? Boston? Probably not. The sea shore? The mountains? Lake region? Probably. 

Traditional vacation spots did very, very well in 2020. Urban markets, not so great. What will happen in 2021? Think about what you, your family and friends want to do as soon as life begins to look normal again. 

My husband and I traditionally schedule a week on the Cape each year. We extended it to 3 weeks in 2020 but we have not made Cape Cod reservations for 2021 because we aren't sure that is what we want to do when we come out of the long hibernation. We miss vibrant urban activities and we just might want to reserve all our 2021 vacation time to immersing ourselves in urban life again.