Workation, staycation, anywhere office are some terms that are becoming popular thanks to a new trend for traveling saving money and, on the other hand, generating income: vacation rentals.
Expedia’s Despegar and Vrbo explain how the habits of world travelers are changing, the role of remote work and the new relevance of Mexico in the vacation rental segment and its new boom.
The beaches of Mexico are unseating those of Florida
The passage of the pandemic brought resounding changes in the habits of travelers and today there are millions who use the anywhere office. Remote work gives diverse employees around the world the opportunity to work from their favorite vacation destinations.
Despegar has detected that vacation rentals are a good option for this type of employee for two reasons: they are cheaper for long stays and they provide greater privacy when traveling with the family. Something that is not found in a hotel.
Mexico is becoming one of the favorite destinations for this type of trip, attracting mainly American tourists and remote workers.
Beach destinations are a big category for Vrbo, and we see a high compression in markets like Florida, so people are expanding to places like Mexico, where there could be more availability (…) Travelers are mostly based on the United States, particularly they come from the states of California, Arizona and Texas with groups of travelers between 7 and 10 people”, indicates Tim Rosolio, VP of Partner Success, Vacation Rentals of Vrbo, a company with long experience in this segment and which was acquired by Expedia in 2015.
An opportunity to generate extra income
“It is estimated that the online vacation rental market will experience 40% growth between 2019 and 2024,” explains Iván Marenco, Vice President of Vacation Rentals at Despegar.
In addition, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography estimates that there are almost 16 million freelance workers in Mexico, two million more than in 2019. Now, with new technological implementations, they are becoming digital nomads.
In this sense, there is an opportunity to generate extra income for people who have a second property in a vacation destination.
Tim Rosolio of Vrbo also points out that homeowners who list their homes on the platform often use the extra income to build retirement savings or even pay off their mortgage. And the advantage of this modality is flexibility, since they can manage and set their own prices according to their own criteria.
What are the advantages of traveling with vacation rentals?
Workation is a term that is taking on a new boom, since digital nomads can spend their working days on the beach, occupying entire houses that are comfortable for their creative activities, with a good Wi-Fi connection and availability of spaces such as an equipped kitchen, laundry room, among others, all at a lower price than in hotels.
“Most of the vacation rentals contain a well-equipped kitchen that is of great help to travelers, so they can have more control of their budget for meals, which helps save up to 30%”, highlighted Iván Marenco, from Despegar .
But not only the workers benefit, also the members of the families. Well, unlike hotels or other travel options, there are no shared spaces in Vrbo and Despegar vacation rentals. This is ideal for conviviality in privacy.
Sometimes, this option is good even for short stays within the same city or its surroundings. In the so-called ‘vacation bridges’, such as the one on September 16, travelers can choose to do a staycation , staying within an area relatively close to home, to relax with a lightning vacation.
Where do digital nomads looking for vacation rentals go?
The Mexican destinations most sought after by digital nomads, according to Vrbo observations are:
For international travelers:
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California
Puerto Penasco, Sonora
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo
Banderas Bay, Nayarit
For domestic travelers:
Banderas Bay, Nayarit
Puerto Penasco, Sonora
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo
Mazatlan Sinaloa
Rosarito, Baja California
Tips to save
Iván Marenco recommends making reservation searches by filtering with open dates, especially if you have time flexibility. So you can find the best prices along with offers for suggested dates.
Other good practices to save money are anticipating the purchase of the flight, comparing travel packages to avoid untimely expenses and configuring travel alerts in the various applications, Despegar, Vrbo and even Google flights is a good idea.
