“Rental Resurgence: Owners of Vacation Rentals Optimistic About Their Rental Business in 2011, According to New ...” plus 1 more |
| Posted: 11 Jan 2011 05:00 AM PST Press Release Source: HomeAway On Tuesday January 11, 2011, 8:00 am EST AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As leisure travel continues to rebound, owners of vacation rentals are expressing optimism about their bookings in 2011. In fact, HomeAway®, Inc. – the world's leading online vacation rental marketplace – finds in its latest "HomeAway Vacation Rental Marketplace Report" that eight of 10 vacation rental owners anticipate their rental business this year will be stronger or about the same as it was in 2010. To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/homeaway/43505/ (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110111/MM26662 ) The year is already off to a good start for some owners. According to HomeAway's seventh quarterly report, about 60 percent of vacation rental owners say their bookings for the first quarter of the year (January through March) are about the same or higher than the same time period last year. "It's clear an increasing number of travelers are considering vacation rentals as an alternative to hotels," says Brian Sharples, chief executive officer of HomeAway. "We've done a lot of work to promote the benefits of vacation rentals – extra space, added privacy and full kitchens – and that marketing and advertising is having an impact. More travelers are asking themselves, 'Why hotel when I can HomeAway?'" Good News for Travelers: Prices Stable, Choices Continue to Grow The HomeAway report also found that a majority (59 percent) of vacation rental owners will keep their 2010 rental rates in place this year – good news for travelers looking to stretch their travel dollar in 2011. About 10 percent will decrease their rental rates from last year, and approximately 31 percent expect to increase their rates. While rates look to be consistent in 2011, vacation rental inventory continues to grow. For the sixth consecutive quarter, Austin makes the list of the top 10 fastest-growing cities for vacation rental listings. Last year's list, comprised of three markets in California (Carnelian Bay, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills), three ski towns (Estes, Colo.; Truckee and Carnelian Bay, Calif.) and two lake destinations (Canyon Lake, Texas; Lake Norman, Illinois) is a change from this year's list that featured beaches and less traditional vacation rental destinations. (see chart) In addition to a greater selection of vacation rentals, travelers also will benefit from owners' efforts to improve their properties and the experience that travelers have while staying in them. The report found that 59 percent of vacation rental owners are planning an upgrade to their homes in 2011. Of those owners who say they'll embark on an improvement project:
"For most vacation rental owners, it's about providing a great vacation experience for their renters," says Sharples. "They're looking to create a little piece of paradise that brings families together." In fact, when asked how they describe their vacation home to travelers, 19 percent say they use the word "paradise;" 18 percent say "retreat;" and 14 percent use the word "peaceful." Other descriptors included:
If they could afford to buy another vacation rental today, nearly half (49 percent) of the owners surveyed say they'd buy in a beach destination – more than any other type of destination. Fourteen percent would buy in a ski or mountain destination; 9 percent would buy near a lake; and 6 percent would buy in a big city like New York, Dallas, Los Angeles or San Francisco. The remaining owners would buy in a destination built around family attractions or a mid-sized city like Austin, New Orleans or Santa Fe. However, for those who are serious about buying vacation real estate with the intent to rent, Sharples says they should consider markets where travelers are looking to vacation. McCall, Idaho, was the fastest-growing destination among travelers looking for vacation rentals in the third quarter of 2010. The resort city in the southwestern part of the state is known for its annual winter carnival. The destinations with the largest year-over-year percent increase (from Q3 2009 to Q3 2010) in inquiries from travelers looking to rent vacation homes:
About the HomeAway Vacation Rental Marketplace Report Data for the HomeAway Vacation Rental Marketplace Report was collected via surveys that polled HomeAway customers who own vacation rentals. Based on HomeAway, Inc. internal customer satisfaction research, owner results are based on 270 responses received between Nov. 16 and Dec. 15, 2010. Market trends were based on a combination of in-depth research of renter and traveler information from the HomeAway, Inc. database. About HomeAway, Inc. HomeAway, Inc., based in Austin, Texas, is the worldwide leader in online vacation rentals, representing more than 540,000 paid vacation rental home listings throughout 120 countries. HomeAway offers an extensive selection of vacation homes that provide travelers with memorable experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations. The company also makes it easy for vacation rental owners and property managers to advertise their properties and manage bookings online. The HomeAway portfolio includes the leading vacation rental websites HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil. In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels. For more information about HomeAway, please visit www.HomeAway.com. Follow Yahoo! Finance on ; become a fan on Facebook. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| New Hanover targeting beach rentals for unpaid occupancy taxes Posted: 28 Jan 2011 08:46 AM PST Vacation rentals at area beaches are required to pay room occupancy taxes, just like hotels and motels. New Hanover County is looking into direct rentals by private property owners to make sure they are also paying occupancy taxes. Photos.com photo Published: Friday, January 28, 2011 at 11:24 a.m. Visitors bureau president Kim Hufham has a stack of papers on her desk detailing listings of rent-by-owner vacation properties that Wrightsville Beach's code enforcement officer found on a website. The question is whether the owners of the rentals are remitting room occupancy taxes to the county and the state, but Hufham does not know. It's an issue many municipalities and counties across the state battle, as the only way to determine if someone renting lodging is remitting taxes is to match up owner information to the county's tax documents. But that's only if you know that someone is renting a room or home, Hufham said. The room occupancy tax rate in New Hanover County is 6 percent, and the owner of any hotel, cottage, campground or other short-term rental accommodations must report monthly sales to the tax office by the 15th day after the reporting month. Room tax revenues fund the county's visitors bureau, and each beach town gets a share of the revenues to go toward tourism-related projects and events. With the rise in online vacation rentals and the suspicion that many municipalities are missing out on tourism funds, Hufham said, enforcing the room occupancy tax has become a statewide legislative issue. N.C. Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover, was recently appointed to the state's tourism board and said the issue is likely to come up at a future meeting. She said she was not aware of any proposed legislation, but she said tourism officials expressed concern during her campaign about missing out on room occupancy tax revenues. "Anything that's going to add revenues to our businesses is definitely something that North Carolina General Assembly should consider," she said, adding she thinks that tourism funds used to promote the area have a direct link to the success of local businesses. In the meantime, Hufham said she was going to turn over the rental listings to the county's tax office to see if they can be matched against tax records. The tax office also would be charged with enforcing the collection of those taxes, she said. Wrightsville Beach Town Manager Bob Simpson said online rentals and determining whether someone is on the radar for tax collection is a gray area. "It just came up at a marketing committee meeting, and they're trying to figure out a way to get their arms around it," he said. "And this may be an adequate response, or it may not." A couple of years ago the county's Tourism Development Authority hired an agency to conduct a countywide audit of rentals to discover which agencies or individuals were not paying the room tax. Brunswick County tourism officials also recently considered conducting an audit but decided it wasn't worth the expense and effort. The Brunswick County Tourism Development Authority collects just 1 percent of room occupancy taxes from its unincorporated areas and from municipalities, with the exception of Bald Head Island. And some towns, such as Ocean Isle Beach, take a more direct approach to enforce room occupancy tax compliance. A staff member in that town routinely checks rent-by-owner websites to ensure owners or management firms are remitting taxes. While it might be time-consuming, officials there say collections have increased and more people are educated about collecting and remitting taxes. After all, tourism officials say most of those who aren't paying the room tax simply might be uninformed. "It's not necessarily people trying to swindle," Hufham said. Shannan Bowen: 343-2016 On Twitter: @shanbow This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Vacation Rentals - Yahoo! News Search Results To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment