vacation house-type rental platforms that respect taxes/locals/etc.

July 7, 2022 12:57 PM

I'm dubious of "sharing economy" platforms like Airbnb, because they tend to "damag[e] communities and push[] vulnerable individuals to take on unsustainable risk" and dodge taxes and regulations (as Tom Slee writes). If I want to book a house, cottage, cabin, or similar lodging in the US (especially in New England), what platforms are more friendly to my values?

Fairbnb seems to only be in Europe; I'm in the US.

I looked at this past Ask which focuses more on the owner's point of view and is now a few years old.

I'm aware of some potential candidates: Booking.com, VRBO, Homeaway (owned by Expedia), Housetrip (from TripAdvisor), Flipkey (also from TripAdvisor), Hotels.com, Getaway.house, and Hipcamp.

I'd prefer to use companies that actually vet properties and hosts, and assume liability in case something is dangerously wrong with the property. And I'd prefer to use companies that haven't launched disingenous lobbying efforts to change laws that don't suit them.

I'm interested in standalone houses because, during COVID, I want to avoid sharing indoor common spaces and indoor airflow with people outside my party, and I would like some kitchen facilities, plus access to private outdoor space where I can hang out unmasked with my party. I am okay with fairly cookie-cutter interiors and do not need unique character. A hotel-type experience would be fine if the unit has its own entrance from the exterior rather than connecting to shared corridors (I associate this kind of structure with motels, where units don't have their own outdoor areas or kitchenettes, but maybe I'm wrong?).

posted by brainwane to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Our family cabin in a vacation destination is rented through a local specialty realty company, they ensure every cabin follows state and local law (they actually delisted our cabin during COVID because we didn't follow all the temporary state hospitality rules for single use dishware, laundry, etc). The downside is they don't use any fancy booking site it's all old school, over the phone or email. Though now they do have an online calendar showing booked dates so that's an improvement. To find this kind of service you might try searching for "destination vacation home rental agency" and then skim past the paid ad placements.

In other locations I have found similar services through a vacation rental HOA or condo board which may offer short term rental listings. Or hotel chains may have listings for all their vacation condos.

Since laws surrounding short term rentals can be set on a very granular level, it is not feasible for a nationwide service to do this vetting for every single listing. That is the tradeoff for the convenience of a service like Airbnb&b.
posted by muddgirl at 1:13 PM on July 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

When I was looking for similar lodging before Airbnb existed I would search for “ cabins” or “ vacation rentals”. Cabins are going to tend to be in more rural areas but it is a good way to find cabin (or yurt or whatever) complexes which are individual cabins managed by a single entity on a contiguous piece of land. Like a trailer park for cabins, although the cabins are typically spaced and arranged to not face each other/provide some privacy.

“Vacation rentals” works better in areas that aren’t cabin-y and have a long history of vacation rentals - tourist or vacation areas. Neither is likely to cover city areas well so this depends on your travel needs.
posted by jeoc at 1:27 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

A lot of state parks have cottages and cabins for rent. Sometimes yurts, treehouses, and other fun things, too. Most states seem to have a single website for all their parks (e.g., Georgia's), so you could likely pick a state and browse to see what suits you.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:33 PM on July 7, 2022 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you - I just realized that I should also look at Recreation.gov!
posted by brainwane at 1:49 PM on July 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

In beach areas in NC, there is often a real estate or other specialty company that handles rentals for a collection of individuals. If you Google "house rental Surf City NC" you get a list of companies like this. Some of them go back a lot of years.
posted by amtho at 2:23 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have you considered home swaps? It's more truly "sharing," as you are sharing your home with others. This is an option if 1) you are comfortable allowing strangers to stay in your home (and people who are willing to share their homes are more likely to be respectful of others' homes) and 2) you have a home that would be attractive to other travelers. In addition to direct swaps, there are sites like HomeExchange and Love Home Swap that allow indirect exchanges and provide insurance.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:29 PM on July 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains and rents a number of cabins. Some of the PATC cabins are simple one-room affairs with no plumbing, but some have plumbing and electricity. Perhaps whatever organizations maintain the AT near you may do the same. State parks often have rental cabins as well, which may be on recreation.gov or on a state-managed web site.
posted by fedward at 7:11 PM on July 7, 2022

Not sure if this is useful to you- but when I use Airbnb I do my utmost to only rent places that are actually lived in by their owners. You can almost always tell from the description m, the photos, and the bio. I haven’t been wrong yet. I figure that while isn’t a perfect solution, it avoids reinforcing some of the most pernicious pitfalls of the platform.
posted by jeszac at 6:05 AM on July 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

The biggest problem caused by vacation rentals is that demand for 2nd homes by people who are not part of the local community drives up house prices and prices locals out of the market. In addition, it reduces the inventory of long-term rental properties because it is more profitable to offer short-term vacation rentals in many cases. This has the same effect of pricing locals out of the market. So the local community is deprived of affordable housing stock. And yes, many of these new landlords may or may not do their taxes properly but the effects of that are not primarily at the local level. So the way to avoid contributing to this menace is not to rent vacation rentals and support local hotels or B&Bs etc instead. If you must use a vacation rental try to find an established, local agency, ideally local community based ownership.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:41 PM on July 8, 2022 [1 favorite]