Airbnb, Expedia Cancel X

Happy Tuesday, folks! If you need as much coffee as I did this morning, you had a good weekend. 

Let’s hit it.

On the agenda today:

• UK’s Housing Issue
• Headwinds for Hawaii
• Tax $$ for Santa Barbara

Banning Rentals Won’t Add Houses

The UK has a housing problem, not a short-term rental problem, says the industry association there. 

The UK short-term accommodation association's (UKSTAA) research estimates that there are nearly 2 million potential homes for construction, with up to 1.5 million of them “deliverable” within the next five years.

Key caveat: If the government wants to pull up its socks and get to work. 

Its methodology involved analyzing 294 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments, a study which every local authority is required to undertake to give an overview of the potential development sites within its boundary, as well as the government’s Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessments. These city councils are required to regularly demonstrate how they plan to meet local housing needs over the coming five years and beyond.

The association said this would add 6% in the current housing stock. 

But it’s not without its bias. If and when these homes are eventually built, some of these are likely to turn into short-term lets. And the association is championing the cause for tourism, arguing that restricting rentals won’t help the local economy. 

But really, its fight is against the hotels. 

“Does anybody ever have a conversation with Hilton Hotels, asking them to justify why the Hilton Hotel in Delhi or New York or London isn't a block of flats?,” said UKSTAA CEO Andy Fenner. “Of course not, there the conversation is about how much investment and how many jobs they bring in.”

The UK Has a Housing Problem. Restricting Rentals Won’t Fix it

Hawaiian Headwinds

The Hawaii Vacation Rental Performance Report for October was recently released and it indicates a challenging situation for vacation rentals. There is a shortage of vacation rental units, leading to high pricing and low demand. The report highlights that if this trend continues, nightly rates may decrease, and more deals could become available for travelers, Beat of Hawaii reported.

• Occupancy Rates: The overall occupancy rate was 50.89%, significantly lower than hotels, which achieved a 74.5% occupancy rate.
• Supply and Demand Discrepancy: While there were 761,000 vacation rental nights available, only 387,400 nights were rented. 
• The average daily rate for vacation rentals statewide was $265, a 38% increase from 2019.
• Island-Specific Trends:
  • Maui, recovering from massive wildfires, experienced a 40% decrease in vacation rental supply.
  • Honolulu had a 12.2% decrease in available nights with an average daily rate of $225.
  • The Big Island saw a 6% decrease in available room nights, with the lowest demand among the islands.
  • Kauai had the fewest vacation rentals available, and  it had the highest occupancy rate at 57.1%, with an average daily rate of $356.

365Villas Integrates With Worldpay

Vacation rental management software provider 365Villas has integrated its platform with payment processing company Worldpay. This involves using Worldpay's API to provide UK property managers with an additional payment gateway. This integration adds to 30 global payment gateway providers in the 365Villas platform. 

Santa Barbara Tax Income

The City of Santa Barbara’s fiscal year runs from July to June. And the city’s first quarter results are just out. As of September, its sales tax totaled $7.4 million — less than the budgeted amount by 6.6%, the Santa Barbara Independent reported.

The transient occupancy tax (TOT), a 12% tax collected on hotels, motels, and short-term rentals and vacation rentals, was also down. In October 2023, the city collected $2.7 million, compared to $2.8 million in October 2022. Over the first four months of the fiscal year, the city received $13.3 million in bed taxes, with $12.4 million from hotels and $890,000 from vacation rentals. 

X Out Of It

The Expedia Group, Airbnb, Uber, and Disney, have halted their advertising on X (formerly Twitter), Skift’s Dennis Schaal writes. 

Expedia Group confirmed a global pause in advertising on X, without specifying the reasons. Airbnb and Uber reportedly stopped campaigns totaling $1 million and $800,000, respectively, following X Executive Chairman Elon Musk's endorsement of a post deemed antisemitic. 

Critics argue that antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate speech has been amplified on social media platforms, including X, since the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel. 

Expedia, Airbnb and Uber Stop Advertising on Elon Musk's X

Joe Gebbia Divests 

This is probably just another day of trading for Airbnb, but it caught my eye that former co-founder of the company Joseph Gebbia, who heads Samara, sold over 174,000 shares for approximately $22 million. 
Samara sells tiny homes that can function as accessory dwelling units in people’s backyards. If you remember the company recently raised $41 million in a series A round.