Rent Responsibly Makes its Mark in Kansas
Interview with Jim Prugh of Lindsborg Vacation Rentals
A note from Jim
Since I began my adventure in historic preservation in Lindsborg, Kansas, new and surprising opportunities have continually emerged and unfolded before me. High quality commercial spaces have been created for small businesses. New luxury lofts in previously abandoned and neglected second stories of historic buildings have attracted appreciative tenants. Vacation rentals have been welcomed to the mix of hospitality options. Older homes have been relocated and repurposed into executive stay apartments. But of everything I’ve built, I’m most proud of my reputation. My sincerest thanks for the citizens of Lindsborg who have embraced my vision.
If your vacation rental experience is similar to mine, let’s work together so that we are heard, recognized and possibly embraced as vital members of this community of host-owned properties. If HomeAway, Airbnb continue to ignore and dismiss us, we must leave and discover other ways to be non-dependent on listing sites. In fact, many of us already have.
Tell our audience a little bit about yourself!
Jim: I grew up in small towns in Wisconsin and Wyoming where my senior class had 31 graduates. After completing my chemical engineering degree at Rice, I worked in the oil and gas industry for twenty-five years or so. My family has lived in the Denver area since then.
How did you get your start with short-term rentals?
Jim: I fell into the short-term rental industry by starting as a historic preservationist. My wife and I stumbled across Lindsborg, Kansas while driving to Oklahoma City; the town piqued my interest because it was settled by Swedes in the late 1800’s. My ancestry is predominantly Swedish.
I was looking to reinvent myself, so I hopped on the internet and researched historic preservation, concluding, “If other people have done this, then how hard could it really be?”
When I bought my first building, the owners were closing down their business, and the building was going to be empty. Most of my six buildings downtown were empty or close to it. Now they are full, with more projects slated through 2019 and beyond.
I backed into the vacation rental business when building a garage for some tenants five years ago. I thought to myself, “If I’m going through the trouble of building a garage, I’ll build a carriage house with a studio apartment on the second floor. I could try this vacation rental thing I’d heard about. This was the first vacation rental in central Kansas at the time. Two more vacation rentals were added three years ago, with another slated to open later this year.
My competition in town includes two very inexpensive motels and three bed and breakfasts. While my vacation rentals are on the higher end within the area, they are still very affordable!
The city government and local residents have embraced my vacation rentals as attractive additions to the hospitality options in central Kansas. There is no whiff of any city regulations for vacation rentals or suggestions that I’m crowding out low-income families.
Have you seen many people in Lindsborg follow the STR trend?
Jim: No. One of the bed and breakfasts and one of the motels lists rooms on Airbnb. Other listings are scattered nearby. My historic preservation projects routinely meet or surpass national and local building codes, so my vacation rentals are built well.
Madison: Sounds like you’re Renting Responsibly!
Jim: I only have one chance to do it right. Every building is insulated, often for the first time. Solar PV systems are added. All appliances and HVAC/minisplits are Energy Star. All water fixtures are low flow. I could go on.
What brings most of your guests to town?
Jim: Guests are primarily drawn to town for tourism. Some guests are visiting family or friends. The local college attracts alumni, guests and board members.
Madison: How do you vet your guests?
Jim: My property manager likes to chat with prospective guests and say ‘hi what brings you to town?” No real problems other than a wedding party that emphasized “party.” After working with other options, we adopted OneRooftop to consolidate our website, transaction and guest requests.
Madison: Well that’s good to hear.
Jim: You hear about some awful things that happen. Big raves.
Madison: Right. That’s actually how our CEO here got his start. One bad party.
Jim: We mandate a damage deposit and whatever extra cleaning costs are incurred are deducted from the damage deposits.
Do you think small towns are underserved by listing platforms such as Airbnb?
Jim: Absolutely! Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s CEO, and Mark Okerstrom, Expedia’s CEO, are placists, in my opinion. Placism is just a term that I use to describe the way I feel — those of us with vacation rentals in small towns and rural areas have been pushed aside and, worse, ignored. I’ve realized that we are of no importance to these listing sites if we don’t have this “ooo and aww” that fits their vision of a travel destination.
Visit the homepages of Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO and the only listings are for Paris, New York City, Lisbon, Bali, Tokyo, Cape Town, Detroit, etc. Look, I completely understand that these listing sites want to feature host-owned properties in popular vacation destinations in large metropolitan areas or established vacation spots. Like the bank robber Willie Sutton, their websites are purposely designed to highlight these locations, “because that’s where the money is.” I have never seen, nor will I ever see, these listing sites highlight Ottumwa, Iowa; Twin Falls, Idaho or Lindsborg, Kansas.
Madison: Right. Not all of us can or want to go on these large, extravagant trips to metropolitan areas.
Jim: Their placism manifests one or two ways: either they’re not really aware that they have hosts in small towns and rural areas. Or, what’s worse, is that they do know but they don’t care.
Madison: Right. I absolutely agree with that.
Jim: Well good! I have another advocate!
Madison: Here we believe — small city, large city — it’s all the same!
Jim: Right. Last year, Wes Melton, co-founder of SmokyMountains.com and more recently Matt Landau, founder of VRMB, presented their thoughts around the commoditization of the vacation rental industry. Their viable and valuable thesis is that through Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO, host-owned vacation rentals will soon offer a similar, sometimes identical, set of amenities and experiences that create a baseline set of expectations — just like the hotel industry.
HomeAway/VRBO will be increasing subscription fees by 25% to $499 per listing. This means that they absolutely do not care where the host-owned property is located. The fee is the same whether the vacation rental is in Miami Beach or Miami, Oklahoma. Since every listing is a commodity, every commodity is charged the same fee.
Now, let me take this one step further. HomeAway/VRBO’s 25% increase in subscription fees is blatantly and intentionally placist. As stated earlier, listing sites show only host-owned properties in popular tourist destinations — that’s where the well-to-do travellers and their money go. I’ve been there and done that!
Since this increase applies to all of their listings, they are creating a strong economic disincentive for host-owned properties in non-tourist locations, such as small towns and rural areas. If your host-owned vacation rental is not a popular destination, HomeAway/VRBO does not want you. They don’t want you because of where you live. And they are forcing you to leave by raising their listing fee to $499. These hosts will self-select and seek listing site non-dependence. It’s a real shame because they have the opportunity to be a great company, no matter where their users live.
Madison: Yeah, heard and understood, absolutely. We’re trying to serve the smaller communities as well because we have quite a few clients who are located in smaller cities — we feel the same way.
Jim: Oh good! Maybe we can grab some torches and pitchforks.
Madison: Yeah! All for it!
Jim: Airbnb is certainly placist too, especially regarding their listings of experiences. Every small town and non-tourist destination has experiences that travelers would greatly enjoy. But you would never know it by looking at their homepage. I suggested to Rachel Freeman with Airbnb to create a road-show to start the process of creating experiences in small towns and rural areas. I think in her heart she’s empathetic because she is from a little town in Northern Iowa.
There are tons of festivals going on all the time in little towns in the US and around the world. Airbnb just completely and deliberately ignores that market.
Thoughts from the Rent Responsibly Team:
We love supporting those who are passionate about having a voice. We appreciate Jim for sharing his opinions on the current market and ways that his company is affected by those trends.
We are a voice for the short-term rental community — open to all community members’ thoughts and opinions.
Our favorite part of Jim’s story is how much he has done for the small town of Lindsborg. This is what makes the community of short-term and vacation rentals an amazing one to be a part of. Let’s continue to celebrate vacation rentals and the community members, like Jim, who represent it.
If you’re passionate about short-term rentals and their implications on our economies, take the Rent Responsibly pledge and volunteer to be a good neighbor. Together, we can make neighborhoods a safer place and have fun in the process of doing it.
