VAIL — As second-home owners worry about the effects of the national economic downturn, they’re becoming more willing to offer deals and incentives to rent out their luxury properties.
Many of those homeowners have been calling Jay Mandelstam, co-owner of .
“Typically, the phone rings, and the homeowner says, ‘I need some more reservations,’ ” said Mandelstam, whose company manages short-term rentals of second homes in and around Vail. “I say, ‘If you drop the price, you’ll get more reservations.’ ”
Rental prices start at about $300 a night on the company’s website, which offers homes next to the slopes and around Eagle County.
“Most homeowners are super-motivated right now. The ones with the $14 million homes probably don’t care, but most do care right now,” Mandelstam said. “There are discounts at just about every property that has availability from now until the mountain closes.”
At the same time, rental volume is staying about even with last year’s numbers, but visitors are waiting longer to book their lodgings, Mandelstam said.
“The discounts are higher than past years, without a doubt,” he said.
Clients haggling
Burned by the stock market drop, even the wealthy are looking for bargains, said Michele Garner, owner of Reach Destinations, a property-management firm. Some clients who previously were willing to pay $7,000 to $10,000 a night for a Christmas stay in a premier private home this year started haggling, Garner said.
“That was shocking to me. Something that before went for $7,000 per night went down to $2,000 this year,” Garner said. “It was totally different pricing for Presidents Week and Christmas and New Year’s.”
Many high-end homeowners are happy to get any extra cash, however, even if their luxury homes are renting for less, said Tricia Gould, co-owner of Property Boss, another property-management firm with short-term rentals in all price ranges.
Instead of offering dollar discounts upfront, Gould first recommends that homeowners offer shorter stays rather than the usual seven-day minimum. “That usually works,” she said.
Freebies thrown in
For visitors still on the fence, some homeowners also offer additional amenities free or for a discounted rate to stand out from the crowd.
For example, one Beaver Creek home owner offers a pass to the adjoining health club and spa with discounts for services before certain times of the day. A Vail homeowner offers a parking pass with direct access to the Vista Bahn lift, according to ads posted on .
This year’s deep rental discounts are not without controversy. Because Vail bills itself as a world-class ski area, offering such aggressive deals sends the wrong message, some in the resort-marketing business warn.
Ralf Garrison, a town of Vail consultant who keeps statistics on bookings and prices, among other things, has warned that guests who get a deal this year are not easily going to go back to paying full price next time they take a ski vacation.
In response, many management companies are offering “value,” or slightly lower prices, for loyal customers who book early this ski season, said Michael Bennett, general manager of the Beaver Creek West Condominiums in Avon.
Probably 60 percent of Beaver Creek West’s guests this year are returning customers who greet him by name, Bennett said.
“We reward the guest that has booked with us well in advance,” he said. “The guest in the hot tub beside them isn’t going to be bragging about getting a better deal. We reward loyalty.”
“Rate cannibalization,” as Bennett calls the discounts popping up this year, is in the “long-term worst interest for our whole industry,” from airlines and hotels to car rentals and lift-ticket discounts.
As the recession deepens, ski-vacation customers across the board this year all seem to be looking and booking at the last minute, said Chris Romer, reservations manager at the Vail Valley Partnership, a business chamber group that handles most online bookings in the valley.
“We continue to see an increase in bookings within two or three weeks of arrival, even the international reservations,” he said.
