How will Covid affect 2021 Cottage rentals
It has been a long battle against Covid since the beginning of 2020. The travel industry has been unarguably tested during this special period and the future of the industry seems difficult to predict. With vaccines rolling out, although a great news to battle against the virus, it is still unknown just how effective the vaccines are against the new variants. Nevertheless, the big question for cottage owners is How will that affect my rental revenue? The answer to whether if it will affect cottage rentals is Absolutely. However to what degree and what extent requires a little more research.
I have been operating and helping others managing AirBnBs for the last while and the cottage market has always been super hot every summer, and once again, all my client’s cottages are completely booked for the 2021 summer as well. But do expect higher cancellation rates than the usual years due to uncertainty of the current situation and potential lockdowns. For instance, one of the cottages I am managing received two cancellations in one day when the Ontario government yet again announced the lock down that will last over 30 days. However it took one and a half weeks for those cancelled dates to be rebooked again. The most likely outcome is that your summer revenue will remain the same or at worst dip a little compared to prior years, but what is really affected is your revenue off the summer season.
That’s right, you could be potentially making 4k in the month of April but due to Covid, you might instead make 2.5k from essential short-term rentals. Of course that depends on what your minimum nightly stays are. Clients who prefer their cottages to have a longer minimum stay will have much less revenue during times of Covid versus those that offer 2-night minimum stays.
The conclusion I have come to based on what’s on the market and from my personal experiences is that expect lower total cottage rental revenue if the government imposes on and off lockdowns throughout the year, but should still be able make enough to cover most of your cottage expenses.
