Haines Borough lodging tax income jumped 54 percent during the past five years and the expanding vacation rental market might explain the increase.
In 2011, the borough collected $71,965 in lodging taxes from local vacation businesses. Last year the number stood at $115,716.
Randa Szymanski has owned a travel agency in Haines since 1986. She started managing her first and only vacation rental 17 years ago. Now, she said, the market is “booming.”
“The vacation rentals started around the year 2000,” Szymanksi said. “It was just one, it was ‘The Attic.’ Then there was another one called ‘The Cottage’ and then shortly after that I had four or five and within the next year it was just exploding. Now I have 33.”
Airbnb is a worldwide online marketplace for people to list and rent housing accommodations. According to Airbnb data, 578 guests rented from among the 50 local homes currently listed on Airbnb’s website. The average cost for a night in a Haines home rental is $328.
Szymanski charges her clients 13 percent to organize reservations. She handles the money, takes phone calls and emails and markets the houses, many of which are also on Airbnb and similar sites, and on her website.
Szymanski said some of her clients just want to make a few extra dollars to supplement their income; others pay their mortgages with the profits.
“Every single one of them has a different reason for doing this,” Szymanski said. “Every single one has a different goal about how much they want to make off their vacation rental.”
Individuals who rent their houses as vacation rentals must get a business license with the state and register as a business with the Haines Borough, sales tax clerk Jessie Badger said. They then pay a 4 percent lodging tax along with associated sales taxes on their income.
“Without giving any secrets out, they all seem to be doing pretty good,” Badger said.
Greg Podsiki was one of the first Haines residents to turn his house into a vacation rental. He started during the spring of 2013.
“Now there’s so many of them it’s pretty competitive,” Podsiki said.
He said the job is fairly labor intensive. He has to clean and do laundry and he’s invested in nicer furniture and dishes. His electric and fuel bills have also increased. Podsiki said despite those labor and investment costs, he makes more renting his house out to vacationers than he would to a long-term renter.
“I definitely make more, but it’s also a huge workload compared to just renting it out on an annual basis,” Podsiki said. “I couldn’t keep the house if it wasn’t for this business.”
Podsiki said many of his customers are wedding parties or families coming from Canada who would rather rent a home than a hotel room.
“Vacation rentals in Haines have been a boost to the economy,” Podsiki said. “A lot of people come here now because these places are available. I get lots of people from Whitehorse.”
Debi Knight Kennedy is a newcomer to the vacation rental business. She and her husband started renting their house to vacationers last summer.
“We’re pretty happy with how it’s going. I know there’s an awful lot of vacation rentals,” Knight Kennedy said. “For now I guess we’re happy that it’s paying for itself. We hope that it will increase. It’s not a huge moneymaker.”
She said her house is currently booked for half the summer and, similar to Podsiki, much of her business is from Canadians.
Last year, a couple saw Haines from the window of their cruise ship and thought they’d like to visit. As a surprise for the man’s 80th birthday, his wife rented Knight Kennedy’s house for the entire month of October, Knight Kennedy said.
In Skagway, Airbnb only has two vacation rentals listed. Skagway’s bed tax, similar to Haines lodging tax, brought about $400 more in revenue during 2011 than it did in 2016.
In some parts of the country, the rise of vacation rentals has become controversial, particularly in areas zoned residential when neighborhoods become full of partying vacationers.
Haines Borough Planning Commission Chairman Rob Goldberg said this week that vacation rentals haven’t stirred any complaints he has heard.
In some borough neighborhoods, operating a bed and breakfast requires a conditional use permit. Goldberg said he doesn’t think the commission has ever denied such a permit.
“There are two vacation rentals close to my house. They are down in Paradise Cove… The people I see are quiet,” Goldberg said.