Preparing for Tax Season

Using Your Owner Statement as a Resource

Your final Owner Statement for 2022 reflects your unit's performance for the entire year and can be given to your tax accountant for tax purposes.

Please reference the Year-to-Date Total Column on your December 2022 statement (see example below), as it reflects your home’s income and expenses for the entire year.

You’ll note that the Owner Statement shows Year-to-Date Total is the column on the left (circled in orange) and Expense (debits) and Income (credits) for the Current Period — meaning the current month.

Reporting Short-Term Rental Income: Schedule C vs. Schedule E

Be sure to chat with your tax accountant about where you should report short-term rental income. While long-term rental income is always reported on Schedule E., short-term rental income can be reported on Schedule C since the average length of rental is less than 7 days and you provide what the IRS categorizes as substantial services (which might include cleaning, linens, and other services that go above and beyond what a typical landlord offers), which makes the situation different for short term rentals.

In this latter case, your accountant may consider reporting your rental income and total expenses on Schedule C of your Form 1040 tax form (or Form 1065 if your business is classified as a partnership). Personal usage days are also not required to be reported when filing under Schedule C.

Consult with your tax professional to determine which schedule is best based on your personal situation.

Travelers Have More Options with Increased Vacation Rental Supply

The short-term rental landscape is evolving. Between the beginning of 2021 and the end of September 2022, the U.S. saw a sharp increase in vacation rental supply, with almost a third (28.7%) more properties added to the market. The massive demand for alternative lodging accommodation options post-pandemic spurred this surge in supply.

While this supply growth reflects the success of the Vacation Rental sector, it has led to a heavily saturated market. Because of this, average daily rates (ADR) are failing to remain competitive and appeal to guests with increased lodging options. Where most months in 2022 reaped higher ADRs year-over-year, the increase began to slow as the year closed. In November, across the VR industry, the Average Daily Rate in the U.S. was only $7/night higher than in 2021. And December marked the first month of ADR decreases, with rates being $10/night less than in 2021.

An ongoing cost of living squeeze has also impacted the industry. U.S. inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, affecting guests' travel budgets. Although the inflation rate has been falling month by month, the year ended on an annual 6.5% increase, meaning guests are still grappling with higher costs as they contemplate travel plans for the coming months.

The vacation rental industry is also seeing year-over-year reductions in occupancy rates. Occupancy rates are tracking closer to 2019 - 2020, resulting in lower actual and projected occupancy rates for 2023 than previous years.

As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, we expect the oversaturated vacation rental market combined with inflation to cause lower ADRs, resulting in declines in year-over-year unit revenue.

Here are a few of the things VRC is doing to ensure your listing performs at its best in a highly competitive marketplace:

Dynamic Yield & Rate management — VRC utilizes a proprietary mix of automated and human-powered rate management tools, we can meet demand where it's at - automatically increasing or decreasing your listing price based on historical and real-time data, all done daily.

Expansive Distribution — VRC distributes your property to 150+ booking platforms, including Vrbo, AirBnB, Booking.com, hotels.com, and Travelocity. Our expansive distribution makes finding and booking your property online a breeze for travelers and potential guests.

Professional Photography — VRC's listings feature professional photography to showcase your home in the best possible light.

SEO & Paid Search Advertising — We actively promote our destinations and properties in regular email marketing campaigns, paid social media marketing ads, and local area ad campaigns. We invest in Google Adwords to stay at the top of rankings and continuously improve our on-page SEO efforts to ensure our inventory is getting in front of as many potential guests as possible.

Consider Adding Electric Vehicle Charging Capability to Your Vacation Rental

More travelers are driving electric vehicles. Over 850,000 AirBnB hosts now offer electric vehicle charging capabilities, and AirBnB offers EV charging as a searchable filter for travelers. Search inquiries by guests looking for EV Chargers now account for over half a million unique searches.

In response to this increased demand for EV Charging, VRC is partnering with OK2Charge to make EV Chargers a reality for our owners interested in adding this amenity. VRC's partnership with Ok2Charge allows our owners to procure electric vehicle charging stations for their properties at a discounted price.

Click the button below to sign up for this promotion or to learn more about installing an EV charging station at your vacation rental. VRC teams will work with OK2Charge to facilitate the installation.

Top Search Amenities

Thinking about making improvements?

The off-season is a great time to invest in improvements and upgrades to ensure your home attracts guests and populates in as many online searches as possible. Here are the Top Search Amenities in our markets on the major platforms (Vrbo, Airbnb, VRC website).

Top Search Amenities

1. Private Hot Tub
2. Private Home
3. Pets Allowed
4. Internet/WiFi
5. Cabins
6. Air Conditioning
7. Kitchen
8. 4+ Star Reviews
9. Pool
10. Waterfront
11. Good for Families