Short Term Rental

How short-term rentals could affect St. Albert’s hospitality industry

FREQUENT TRAVELER NICOLE Brenda can’t say enough great things about staying over in a short-term rental. “It saves money,” says Brenda, who’s sacked out at many of these joints, including several in Alberta. “It’s less expensive than staying in a hotel, and we’re supporting local people instead of a big chain.”

She isn’t alone in her praise. Short-term rentals have been a boon to travelers like Brenda in recent years, thanks to the emergence of the share market in the hospitality industry. Spearheaded by online service Airbnb, this latest wave in home-based accommodation is expected to generate more than $170 billion worldwide this year.

With roughly a dozen St. Albert residences on board and hundreds of others in Edmonton and surrounding area, those who facilitate short-term rentals see it as a convenient supplementary source of revenue. While a short-term rental is often mistaken for a more traditional bed and breakfast spot, it differs greatly in that it doesn’t require licensing, permits or such mandatory stipulations as owners needing to live on the premises being used for lodging.

“It’s a great source of additional income you wouldn’t otherwise have,” said Edmonton businessman Chris Vilcsak, who admittedly doesn’t own a short-term rental in St. Albert, but has reaped returns on a domed home he has in Sedona, Arizona, where it’s available for tourists to rent. Like almost all of the

St. Albert locations, Vilscak enjoys a cash flow via registration on Airbnb, by far the largest short-term overnight rental in the market, with more than six million listings available in at least 190 countries. A distant second is Expedia-owned VRBO (formerly Vacation Rentals By Owner) boasting some two million rental options and TripAdvisor Rentals’ FlipKey, with more than 800,000 locations worldwide.

WANT TO HOST A SHORT-TERM RENTAL?

Airbnb is a sideline for most people, whereas VRBO tends to be a full-time business. There is in fact a how-to book for setting up a travel-hosting business, if you’re so inclined, but here are the basics.

• You set the price. Airbnb takes a percentage of your rental fee, plus a fee from your guest. VRBO charges owners either an annual fee (if they are regular hosts) or a percentage per rental (for part-time hosts).

• The system depends on trust between host and guest. Airbnb checks out its guests; hosts set rules for their space and have the right to refuse a reservation. VRBO allows hosts and guests to communicate before the rental, and either party can cancel if things feel uncomfortable. Hosts are also vetted to ensure safety and prevent fraud. Honest reviews and local validation are crucial to everyone’s safety and success.

Learn more at www.airbnb.ca/b/homes-earn, www.vrbo.com/lp/learn-more or www.flipkey.com (choose List Your Property).

THE DARK SIDE OF SHORT-TERM RENTALSIn late 2017, Vancouver’s city council introduced a bylaw, which came into effect in April 2018, requiring any owner listing a property on a short-term rental website to have an annual licence (costing $49). Fines for non-compliance could be as high as $1,000 per day. In March 2019, the city began going after violators, and now more than 800 owners face various actions, including steep fines. Vancouver officials feel such punitive measures are justified by the city’s extremely low long-term rental vacancy rates, which hovered below one percent in 2017 and 2018 and are exacerbated by absentee ownership.