I Heart STRs
For the past several years, I have been patronizing short-term rentals (STR) as much as possible when I travel. Over the years, there have been various ways to find and set up an STR, but these days I think AirBnB or VRBO are how most people find them. Before STRs were a thing, I stayed in bed-and-breakfast (B&B) places when I could.
If you like access to pools, onsite restaurants, room service, spa services and such, STRs may not be for you. But for me, there is a lot to love about them. I like the more relaxed atmosphere of B&Bs and STRs. They are more homey than hotels, and some of them are actually someone’s home. I have stayed in a couple where I rented a room in someone’s home, and a few where the homeowners went elsewhere while I stayed in their home.
When I stay in a big city, I try to find places in the neighborhoods where families live. Such neighborhoods are very relaxed and generally pretty quiet. After a day of riding public transportation and walking crowded sidewalks, it is a big relief to come back to a tree-lined street where families are going about their routines. I can only take so much excitement at a time and have never been big on “night life.”
Another reason I love STRs is that I can find places to stay that are completely out of the towns and cities, some very much in the country. Out here in Spring Creek, we are not used to hearing street or road sounds, sirens, horns, etc. It makes me very happy when away from home to only hear birds, cows, sheep, or maybe even ocean waves.
Sometimes STRs are basically hotels or they can be condos rented by a property management company. But the heart and soul of STRs in my opinion are the places rented out by individuals or families. I have met the most interesting people staying in STRs—an artist couple from France who live in New York City half of the time, a retired banker operating an organic farm in Italy, a young family in College Station renting out a room in their home to help pay for the house they lived in.
I have noticed more and more STRs becoming available in our area, and that makes me happy. Nothing against the traditional lodgings in our area as they have their place and purpose, too, but I know from experience that STRs enable visitors to have a more relaxed, more local experience. We decided to become hosts a year ago, and I have been surprised by the kinds of people that have stayed with us—they are from all over the country and the world, and all have been really nice people. “Tourists” and “tourism” can have some negative associations, but the kind of visitors who tend to patronize STRs are generally not on that negative side of tourism. I am very happy that many of us in this county are making it possible for those kinds of people to come and enjoy our area—not to mention to contribute to our local economy.