Numerous tourist area and popular city locations have started to see the cost of housing rise and tourism on the increase. There is a popular belief that the reason behind these rises is a direct result of the newly born vacation rental industry.
It has helped those that have invested in holiday homes for the purpose of renting them to holidaymakers make a profit from rising property prices and also helps the oners to make an income from their property.
In fact, the vacation rental industry isn’t really that new at all. When we use the phrase ‘newly born’ we are literally saying that this once quiet niche sector of the industry has suddenly boomed.
How Was The Vacation Rental Managed In The Past?
Property and timeshare companies, which are almost one and the same in many respects, have always been around. However, prior to the massive invasion of vacation rental websites the average person that thought ‘vacation’ would generally start to look at hotels and resorts as their preferred choice of accommodation.
In the midst of that group of people that would only consider hotels and resorts has always been another group of holidaymakers that always preferred to rent a holiday home. Those people were generally affluent families and individuals that could afford the high prices being touted by property management business that specialized in offering vacation rental homes to holidaymakers.
Consequently, it was the high prices being charged by private short term holiday home leasing firms that meant that the cheaper alternative for most people was to stay in a hotel. Furthermore, those high prices kept demand low but oddly enough prices high. Maybe because the market was in such low demand, there were not many people investing in homes abroad that they could lease out.
In the end, the high prices and the low number of available holiday homes due to low investment opportunities in this niche kept this side of the accommodation market a slow-paced. At the same time, the management companies needed paying, and they would add huge markups on top of the fees they were charging their clients who they were leasing the properties out on their behalf.
It meant high barriers to entry for those that wanted to invest in vacation rentals. Plus, the holiday home management companies were happy to keep the market quiet enough so they could charge large markups and make a healthy return on every booking.
How Did The Vacation Rental Home Property Market Change?
Now we have set the scene explaining exactly why the vacation rental market was such a niche and expensive sector in the travel industry’s accommodation sector, we can start to explain just why the industry has taken a sudden u-turn and is now rivalling hotels for both bookings and price.
With vacation rental websites coming to light, people are able to book holiday homes at rates that are cheaper than hotels. There is now no need to get in contact with a local business to arrange a holiday home for short term lease. It can now all be done on the web.
The key difference here is that many of these holiday homes require that the person renting the place has to be reasonably self-sufficient. Whereas traditional vacation rental companies would offer a serviced apartment or holiday home package. This is where the price reductions within the vacation rental market have come to light.
- People can go online to a website and simply book someone’s holiday home without any serviced add-ons such as daily changing of bedclothes or cleaning. That said for an additional fee people can still request this type of service. In short, cost-saving is made because of the elf-sufficient nature of this type of accommodation booking.
- The person that owns the holiday home will have been able to list the property for free. Therefore, there are no fees to be paid to a management company. Only a percentage of the booking fee will need to be paid to the vacation rental website when a booking is made. Aside from this, there are no monthly fees being paid to a management company.
- Supply is now in abundance. What we mean here is that there are hundreds if not thousands of properties listed on the many vacation rental websites available to the online public. With more competition, prices are kept under control. If one owner with exactly the same property style is offering his or her place for $100 a night, and the other $80 a night, then the $80 property is going to get more bookings.
Is It Worth Considering Investing In A Vacation Rental?
It seems that vacation rentals are the in thing right now. With the gloomy economic outlook in many European countries and other continents, the one business sector that is booming right now is vacation rentals. Whether it is worth investing in a vacation rental comes down to certain conditions that go far beyond the scope of this article.
However, luckily there are plenty of companies out there that have plenty of resources that can guide you through all the ins and outs involved with becoming a vacation rental property owner. Take a look at this vacation rental glossary guide in which a company called Lodgify that specializes in helping people successfully manage vacation rentals using online websites and technology such as website builders, channel managers, and more.
The idea of this article was just to give you food for thought. If you do decide that you have the means to invest in a vacation rental business, then certainly go and check out the Lodgify website. Plus, if you need financing by remortgaging your house or getting a mortgage to buy your dream holiday home that can also be used to make an income by renting your property to holidaymakers check out our mortgages page to get the best quotes and advice on mortgages.
POSTED BY 
