Purveyors of accommodation on Bowen Island had a typically busy summer this year, with those who are a part of the Accommodations Association being booked up into mid-September by mid-July. Thirty-four property-owners on Bowen are now renting out their homes (or portions of their homes) through the website Airbnb. People offering up their properties seem to agree that this site, and other digital tools, are opening-up Bowen to a whole new market of people who might not have discovered it.
For Jan Stevens, the head of the Bowen Island Accommodations Association, the website VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals By Owner) is where she gets most of her clients, but she still has her own properties, and those she manages, on Airbnb.
“For me, if I get a customer through Airbnb it is incidental. I’m happy to have that business but I don’t rely on it,” she says. “I think people who go to Airbnb are looking for something different than what I’m offering, they’re looking for cheaper accommodations. But what is clear to me is that there’s a gap, in the mid-priced places to stay. It is very clear, when you are looking at these sites that the price-point for places to stay jumps from $175 or $180 per night to $550.”
Overall, Stevens says she feels optimistic about the continued growth of the accommodations business on Bowen, and with that, she is investing in the upgrade of her properties with major renovations.
Anna Mann, of Seven Hills Bed and Breakfast, started business late this summer because the unit she rents out was undergoing renovations until mid-July.
“After that, we could’ve been booked 100 percent, but I had other things to do, so we let the unit go unoccupied for a while,” says Mann, who has been running her bed and breakfast for twenty years. Seven Hills’ clientele, says Mann, are people looking for affordable accommodations, and looking mostly to relax or go hiking.
“The growth of the internet can only be considered a boost for us,” says Mann. “And the best part is, I feel like the people who come to stay with us are better matches because of the descriptions, and the reviews.”
This is a sentiment echoed by Kelly Matzen, who started renting the suite below her place this past spring simply because of the opportunity presented by Airbnb.
“You can really vet people,” she says. “And there’s an accountability factor. We had such a great success right off the bat that we raised the rates. That’s going to shift to something lower now, with the winter coming.”
For Matt Maxwell, there are a host of online tools that have made running his rental business easier.
“Six months ago, I switched to a cloud-based reservation system that synchs with the calendars I’m using on either Airbnb, VRBO, or even iCal,” he says. “That makes things easer for me. But the tools that exist now to reach out to people, they provide the opportunity for people to discover Bowen who otherwise would not. I had a couple stay at my place from Switzerland, for example, and they planned their entire tour of the West Coast through Airbnb. My business has been fairly consistent on a year to year basis, but these tools are definitely helping me to build.”
