Netflix has a new show out called 'Stay Here' in which a savvy property surveying team comes to your hoped-for internet rental property, situated in a desirable location, and fixes it up, spruces it up, guts the interior, spices up the exterior, rips out the old, installs the new, meets with the property owner and lays out the income potential, shows them how to market the property, wraps the process up with a glamorous walk through and then 'Voila!" a star is born.
Featured on the show I watched was a houseboat located in some slip near downtown Seattle and a property on the sandy beach in Malibu. Of course the owners were thrilled to have the A Team come in and help them out, probably gratis, I would think, in order to be featured on the show.
Yes, folks, the future is here. Whereas before hotels were limited in location, now they are not. Is this a good thing? Who cares? Whenever something is featured on TV it means it's the hot new thing, and like a juggernaut that concept is rolling, opinions pro and con not mattering because there's a big enough audience for it.
Already in San Francisco and Amsterdam and other places where you'd be hard pressed to find digs anywhere near the coolest neighborhoods you can now just stroll right in like a local with key in hand, or through possessing the door code to a numerical lock, you can let yourself in.
(You) “Hi, neighbor!”
(They) “?!? Tourist!”
B. Boer- Unsplash.com
This does not instantly make you a local but then again, once you're on the bustling street outside, who is going to notice? The other tourists that have just exited their properties?
Unless you're in a very quiet and tight neighborhood, you won't really know anymore who is in the property next door. In New York they're renting out places that have a shared hallway, you know, a 'get off the elevator and head for Apartment 2B' kind of situation.
The property owners are making bank off of these properties so they're happy but I have to wonder at the sustainability potential of this new phenomenon because...
…like craft beer, every store’s shelves do tend to get crammed with product. Eventually, market saturation has to get reached, and that is probably the case in the most desirable locations right now, gold rushers hardly being known to procrastinate.
Regulation seems to be procrastinating though, and similar to the situation with Uber, is in most cases lagging far behind or being halfheartedly applied due to the newness of the issue and the massive amount of money behind it.
Another thing is, these places ain't cheap. There is a market for lux accommodations but if you've ever studied the travel business like I have people are more interested in stretching their travel dollars and will forgo stellar locations for something not so high end. Shakeout at the upper end is bound to happen but until saturation is reached it's full steam ahead.
As well, how about the 'cool' factor? If everybody is flocking to Austin, and isn't a musician, what do they do, stand around and wait for one to show up? Ditto artists in New York? Quirky locals can't thrive just anywhere, like tourists seem to be able to do. Locals have to be nurtured and supported. Culture, made up of locals, tends to be regional and develops over time under certain conditions. New Orleans didn't just happen overnight. Nashville. Malibu. South Beach Miami. London. Some could fly in and match the scene but more likely most would fly in and spectate. Gawk, snap photos, and look totally out of place.
But that's ok, people gotta travel, they gotta see, they've got to at least land there and walk around and get the T-shirt to let the folks back home know they've been there and I did that, I trekked the globe.
But fitting in? That's another thing entirely. That takes something like forever because cultures have so many nuances it boggles the mind. So- travel if you want and check out the vibe, by all means! It’s good for ya and will expand your mind. Every culture does the human thing differently. It’s amazing. The ability to do so has never been so pronounced. Just understand that it takes more than just getting there to 'get' it, knowwhadImean?