4 ★ FT Weekend 4 April/5 April 2020
rules and heavily restricted travel,
demand has dwindled. In hard-hit Italy
and Spain, some cities saw occupancy
rates cut by half. In March 2019,
between 35 and 45 per cent of Airbnb
listings were occupied; Rome has seen a
drop from 41 per cent in March last year
to 18 per cent this year. A similar
decrease has been observed in Madrid,
according to AirDNA. Some European
capitals are expected to drop down to
single-digit occupancy rates over the
next six months.
Del Moral is a former entrepreneur
turned full-time host. He has five apart-
ments in Madrid and Bilbao, which he
rents out on short and medium-term
basis, and says he saw the crisis coming
in early February. Now he is dealing
with cancellations for July. “This scares
me because these people are never
going to go on holiday,” he says, con-
cerned that the effect of Covid-19 on
jobs and livelihoods will affect their dis-
cretionary spending for years to come.
Del Moral is allowing himself a month
of “holiday” but after that he will find
another type of work. “This is a business
and if the business isn’t working, it’s
time to move on,” he says.
The scramble for bookings
In recent weeks, hosts have been taking
to social media to share stories and
advice on how to grapple with the drop
in reservations. Most have reduced
prices in the hope of attracting guests
for medium-term rentals. In Le Mans,
More has lowered his charges from €50
a night to €15-€20 per night and is tar-
geting medium-term bookings to
recoup at least some of his expenses. He
has managed to fill 60 per cent of his
properties in Le Mans and Angers with
domestic renters, he says.
Other hosts opt to switch to long-term
rentals. Openrent, Turbotenant,
Craigslist, Zillow and local estate agen-
cies are becoming popular alternatives
Continued from page 3
on which to list properties. In the UK,
holiday homes are flooding the long-
term rental market.
Rightmove, a UK property portal, has
noted a 105 per cent rise in new long-
term rental listings in the centre of Edin-
burgh, compared with the same period
last year. In Bath, rental listings have
jumped 78 per cent over the same
period and in central London, they have
increased 45 per cent. Miles Shipside,
Rightmove’s housing market analyst,
says the trend is linked to holiday-home
owners offering their properties to long-
term tenants.One consequence is that rents seem to
be getting cheaper. Although not yet
reflected in the company’s data, anecdo-
tal evidence suggests the flood of holi-
day homes is putting downward pres-
sure on prices.
Lou Obi-Drake, a charity worker, lives
in a rented flat in Shoreditch, east Lon-
don, and has been checking property
websites to search for a new one-year
contract in the area. Her usual search
for properties for up to £2,000 per
month yields about 100 results in thistrendy district, some without windows.
But when she checked last week, the
same search showed nearly 900 results,
and some were two-bedroom flats with
balconies, which never came up before.
“I couldn’t believe how many there
were,” she says. Most ads said the apart-
ments were available for rent now with a
contract for six months, she says, sug-
gesting short-let landlords seeking solu-
tions to tide them over during the worst
months of the pandemic.Homes near hospitals
In a depressing turn of events, one group
of hosts still receiving bookings through
Airbnb are those offering properties
close to hospitals. Many are listing
apartments at reduced prices to front-
line personnel such as police officers
and medical professionals who want to
avoid a long commute or to isolate
themselves from their families while
working on the frontline.
Del Moral says the only tenants he has
in Madrid are a young couple who fled a
crammed family home in search of res-
pite and a quiet place to work.Others cater to stranded travellers
or leverage the nature of their proper-
ties — perhaps a secluded retreat in
the wilderness with a good WiFi con-
nection, enabling guests to work from
home. However, in many parts of the
world, self-isolating in holiday homes
has been discouraged as it runs the
risk of straining local medical facili-
ties and supply chains.
Airbnb has launched its own initiative
to help house 100,000 healthcare pro-
fessionals, relief workers, and first
responders around the world with all
fees waived. It is an expansion of its pro-
gramme Open Homes, piloted in Italy
and France, where it set up partnerships
with local organisations to connect
hosts willing to offer up their place to
medical staff in need of a bed close to
their place of work.
The company has also published
enhanced cleaning guidelines to help
hosts prevent the spread of the virus,
which may live on some surfaces for
several hours or even days.Safety first
Back in Orlando, Patricio is coming to
terms with the situation.
“My opinion is that Airbnb is acting
correctly,” he says, adding that the focus
should be on keeping everyone — hosts
and travellers — safe. “If they didn’t do
this, we could potentially have custom-
ers who would do the trip not to lose
money — and that’s a risk,” he adds.
“I am going to suffer financially but I
am not going under,” he says, “assuming
it’s just a few months.” Renting out his
apartments is his only source of income,
but he is prepared. He has built a finan-
cial buffer to protect his business
against loss of income for six months.
He believes an Airbnb business
should either be run on the side of other
employment in order to mitigate the
risk of losing all income, or treated as a
serious business — in which case, finan-
cial reserves are essential. “All business
has inherent risk,” he says.‘Airbnb is acting correctly.
I am going to suffer
financially but I am notgoing under, assuming
it’s just a few months’Rollercoasters
at Universal
Studios theme
park in Orlando,
Florida, along
with local
Airbnbs, were
heaving with
holidaymakers
until Covid-19
hit; (left) the
park’s deserted
entrance— Alamy;
SOPA Images/LightRocket
via GettvIllustrations: James AlbonHouse Home
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