Rent a holiday home
Strong demand for short-term rentals has driven prices up. Rentals increased by 27% to Life in Hawaiia brokerage service with 320 rentals across the Hawaiian Islands, now averaging $490 per night. HomeToGo.coma rental company, said the average price of a unit in the United States was up about 10% from 2019. Some of its most affordable rentals are in Carlsbad, California (the median price is $158 a night), in Jacksonville, Florida. ($159), Tucson, Arizona ($210) and Nashville ($212).
Travel trends that will define 2022
Looking forward. As governments around the world ease coronavirus restrictions, the travel industry is hoping this will be the year travel comes back strong. Here’s what to expect:
Keep an eye out for costs, especially cleaning costs, which are best amortized over a longer stay. A $100 a night cabin on Airbnb with a $150 cleaning fee is $250 for one night. Spread over a week, it adds nearly $20 a night to the rate. Or look for a rental with no cleaning fees, such as one of the tiny houses of majestic farm in rural Sullivan County in the Catskill Mountains (from $155 a night).
Consider a large house – which may seem expensive – and fill it with friends and family to share the cost. Sasha Hoffman, who runs the group travel planning department The Sasha Edition, recently rented a 14-person villa in St. Lucia for $1,900; a nearby luxury hotel charged $3,000 a night for a double room. She and her group paid the equivalent of $135 per person per night.
Free home stays
Like other travel services, housesitting took a hit during the pandemic but has come back, like house rentals, offering more privacy than hotels. House-sitting offers free accommodation on platforms like Home Sitters America ($49 membership for one year) and MindMyHouse ($20 per year), which associate owners with travelers.
To Trusted house keepers ($129 annual membership), where membership is now higher than it was before the pandemic, most arrangements include pet sitting. Recent listings included a two-bedroom apartment and two cats in Washington, DC, and a ranch house with a golden doodle near Raleigh, North Carolina.
Pets “are going to sleep in the bed with you, so you have to be a pet lover,” said Stephanie Perry, of Dover, Del., who frequently babysits while running a digital business.
Likewise, home exchanges on services like Home exchange (annual membership $175) and love house swap ($11 per month) allow you to swap your home with another traveler. HomeExchange said it did 51% more exchanges in April 2022 compared to April 2019.
