https://www.goupstate.com/news/20190129/is-airbnb-becoming-trend-in-spartanburg
While traditional hospitality establishments continue to expand in Spartanburg County, with downtown alone boasting a bed and breakfast, two hotels and a number of motels and another hotel chain, the Cambria, claiming the corner across from the Montgomery Building for their next venture, another option for Spartanburg visitors has been quietly gaining popularity.
A recent Airbnb study ranks Spartanburg number 12 in the state for Airbnb revenue, with the service bringing in a total of $908,000 from the county in 2018; statewide, Airbnb hosts made a total of $111 million from 695,000 visits. The county tied ninth with Pickens for the number of guests, welcoming 7,700 in 2018, over double the stays of 2017.
The vacation rental site was founded in 2008 to connect people wanting to make a little cash by temporarily renting out a spare room, guesthouse, or even their entire home or apartment with travelers who are looking for hotel alternatives. Searching for Spartanburg, SC homes offer up 223 listings, with an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars. Many hosts give guests the option of booking their entire houses, guesthouse, or apartments, while others offer a private room within their home.
Why does someone open an Airbnb?
Keith Shambaugh and his husband Jay Coffman have run an Airbnb out of their guesthouse, which had been refurbished as a Preservation Trust project, since August 2017.
“About three or so years ago we totally rehabbed the inside and it was for family who were coming in, but family moved to Spartanburg,” Shambaugh said. “So we decided we’d do an Airbnb with it.”
Shambaugh said the Airbnb, listed as “Hampton Heights Cottage” for $70 a night, was a special side gig for him since he majored in business and hospitality.
“This thing is kind of like my Bailiwick. I like doing this kind of stuff,” Shambaugh said.
On the opposite side of town, Leo Cadiz rents out the main house and lives in the former art studio-turned “tiny house” of his Converse Heights home. Originally, he too intended to use one of the spaces for family, and when that didn’t happen he decided to try listing it on Airbnb in October. The house, which is filled with a number of one-of-a-kind pieces designed by the Seattle-transplant, is listed as “5 Star InstaSOOTHIN’ Cottage & Close to Everything” for $79 per night.
“I’m a designer — graphic designer, web designer, and I even build furniture — so, I did a lot of the work in here,” Cadiz said. “I wanted to really customize it, make it really appealing for guests, so they know that they’re in the home of a designer.”
Cadiz said he’s considering turning his tiny house into a second Airbnb location and moving between the two.
“Just because it’s a tiny house, and it’s smaller; I may attract a different market,” Cadiz said.
Other hosts do not live anywhere near their Airbnb listings — some, like local attorney Paul McChesney, have turned it into a true business. McChesney has multiple Airbnb units in downtown Spartanburg with more coming online soon, which are managed by paralegals in his law office, including Trina Bartlett Rose, as a way to earn a little extra income. The first site was a duplex behind the law office’s former location, listed as “Beautiful City Flat with Park View” for $60 per night.
“It’s a side project that’s getting bigger and bigger,” Rose said.
Rose said the business has been a big help to many in the office, giving extra income for medical bills and to make ends meet during periods of family unemployment.
“It’s helped me tremendously,” Rose said.
Why do visitors come to Spartanburg?
Shambaugh said that he’d had a guest come for the eclipse and the Pride March, and all three hosts had visitors in for the Equestrian Games and guests from all over the world — in fact, that was the main appeal for Rose.
“I said ‘What am I going to have to do?’ And (McChesney) said ‘You’re going to have to meet people from all over the world,’ and I said ‘Oh, yeah, definitely interested,’” Rose said. “I’ve met people from France and from Peru.”
However, the hosts said that the reasons for coming were mostly mundane — business, conferences, weddings, and family reunions were among the top reasons mentioned. Cadiz was busily prepping for a girls’ weekend group at the time of his interview, and Rose said that they’d had people rent both floors of the duplex for visiting family members.
Shambaugh noted that many of their guests stay in Spartanburg on their way to other cities or as a jumping off point for traveling to cities like Asheville, Greenville, and Hendersonville or to recreational spots like Caesars Head.
“What’s really interesting is that a lot of locals will be like, ‘What? Why are people coming to Spartanburg?’ And I think it’s hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes,” Shambaugh said. “Our location is just a prime location; it’s a jumping off spot for so many areas.”
Why choose an Airbnb?
The cost, of course, is the most obvious reason. The average price of an Airbnb in Spartanburg County is $118 per night, while the starting points for the AC Hotel and the Spartanburg Marriott are $179 and $129, respectively.
“Younger people, I think, have a tendency to swing toward Airbnbs because they’re not having to pay for all the amenities that the hotels (have),” Shambaugh said. “Every time you add cable television, or a gym or something like that you’re having to in some way, pay for that, and we don’t charge any of that.”
Another reason is the desire for a more homey feel than can usually be found in a hotel. This is something that Rose has to keep in mind when outfitting their new Airbnbs — they need to contain anything and everything a guest would expect to find in a home, and guest expectations and needs, she said, vary depending on the reason for their visit.
The houses also tend to include a few extra treats that you probably don’t keep in your home — Cadiz’s cottage included a copy of “The Underground Guide to Spartanburg,” bottles of water, orange juice and champagne, and a gift basket made up especially for the upcoming guests.
“Everybody’s different (about) what you offer guests. I have a budget for what I do for my guests,” Cadiz said, estimating that he prepares to spend about $30 per guest. “I have a group of ladies this weekend and they’re having a girls’ weekend, so I give them little treats, some breakfast maybe. You don’t get this in a hotel.”
And, of course, the beds are all perfectly made, the houses spotless, and the amenities the nicest the owner can buy — this is a major plus when it comes to linens and mattresses, according to Rose, as is having any and everything a guest might need, from baby gates and plug converters to spatulas, even books to read.
“People say they really appreciate that,” Rose said. “That they don’t have to worry.”
The fact that the listed homes are usually the beautiful ones rarely seen outside of magazines doesn’t hurt. The uniqueness of many of the homes, like the Coffman-Shambaugh cottage, a true mother-in-law’s cottage, built in the 1950s and filled with local, original art; Cadiz’s cottage, where everything was either designed or handpicked by the Seattle artist or the abstract hummingbirds on the walls of the City Flat painted by a Columbian artist who stayed there, can be part of the appeal.
“Everything’s about marketing, to a point,” Shambaugh said.
What does Airbnb mean for Spartanburg?
In a general sense, it means there will be more places for the increasing number of Spartanburg visitors to stay at a wider variety of price points. A study released in December by the Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau states that tourism impact has increased 60 percent since 2009, with the total economic tourism impact in the county for the year topping off at more than $300 million. According to the report, Spartanburg is one of the top 10 visitor destinations in the state.
“This report shows that tourism has emerged as an important growth industry in Spartanburg County,” Allen Smith, President, and CEO of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce said in the report. “With at least five new hotels under construction and dozens of new restaurants opening this year, the visitor economy here is strong.”
In many cities, however, Airbnb isn’t just pretty houses for tourists. Last summer, the New York Times reported on the city’s struggles with Airbnb, where the conversion of apartments into Airbnb rentals was compounding the effects of NYC’s housing crisis, causing rents to rise and making affordable housing harder to find. In the United States, cities including New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans have passed laws to curb this practice among Airbnb hosts and hosts from other short-term vacation rental sites.
For the meantime, there doesn’t seem to be any real cause for concern.
“There hasn’t been a significant local issue (with Airbnb) so far,” City Manager Chris Story said.
Story said that Airbnb was a topic that the city would be looking at going forward and that city staff was watching and learning from the actions taken by other cities where the platform is more prevalent.
While Spartanburg is a much smaller Airbnb market than any of those cities, it is a growing market, and the Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau has been researching it locally. Spartanburg CVB Executive Vice President Chris Jennings said, “As you know, Airbnb has been in the news recently as more and more tourism communities start to realize how important they are to the local economy. However, regulation and fairness to hotels and other accommodations have also been a topic of interest. We have heard from several coastal destinations how the short-term rental was impacting their hotel business, and after last year’s World Equestrian Games, we wanted to get some data on what the trend is in Spartanburg County, to share with our hotels and industry partners.”
Naomi Sargent, director of strategic communications, said there is a report coming from the CVB on the growth of short term rentals, including Airbnb. While Airbnb is a still a fairly new topic for cities to discuss, the discussion is happening in Spartanburg.
