Should I Enter The Short Term Rental Industry Amid The COVID-19 Outbreak

Should I Enter The Short Term Rental Industry Amid The COVID-19 Outbreak?

Let’s face it; it’s a slow season for the short term furnished rentals business. But that doesn’t mean that you abandon your dream of starting making your foray into the industry altogether. 

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to huge losses for the airlines and hospitality industry. With lockdowns being declared in a host of countries, travel for leisure doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s itinerary at least for a few weeks to say the least. 

In addition to this, the most popular online market places connecting hosts to guests, such as Airbnb, are offering full refunds on cancellations to guests, something that’s really harming the business interests of hosts and owners of short-term apartment rentals.

But every industry witnesses highs and lows so why should the STR business be any different? Getting into the business has proved to be extremely profitable for thousands of hosts and this slump shouldn’t deter you. In fact, you should consider revisiting your business strategy and undertake measures that will actually help you to set up a successful short term rental business when the pandemic wanes down. 

Here are some pointers to help you on the way: 

Look for landlords 

With students vacating short-term rental housing and returning to their homes, as well as the real estate market going down, homeowners would be desperately looking for people to whom they can rent out their properties. They would perhaps be ready to rent out their homes at a low rate to make their mortgage payments and might even agree to enhanced rental arbitrage terms. 

Because of the current situation, you might even end up finding homes for rent furnished by the owners themselves. 

Start researching now to be able to zero in on accommodations by June-July. And yes, we wouldn’t suggest entering the short term rentals business industry right at this moment because a new business should ideally wait till the economy improves a bit. 

Diversify! 

Don’t just focus on Airbnb! After all, it ruffled a lot of feathers because of its updated extenuating circumstances policies because of which many hosts are inching towards other platforms to promote their properties. Now is the time to build your profile on other platforms such as Booking.com, VRBO, Tripadvisor and many others so that you don’t have a typical case of “all eggs in one basket!”

If you are looking for comprehensive strategies to build your portfolio in the short-term rentals industry, then sign up for STR Masters’ exclusive business course for hosts ASAP!