High-end homes used for leisure can become a source of income for their owners, or at least pay their own costs, through platforms specializing in luxury vacation rentals.
What differentiates these services from traditional short-term rentals, offered by companies such as Airbnb and Booking, is the curation of properties and the offer of services linked to accommodation — which attract wealthy foreigners and Brazilians to destinations on the coast and in the mountains of the country.
“It’s essential [ter serviços]you don’t want to arrive after 12 hours of flight and have to go to the market, you want to find the fridge full, breakfast ready, masseuse to help you relax”, says Arnaud Bughon, founder of Latin Exclusive, a company created 15 years and which manages more than a thousand high-end properties in ten countries.
Brazil was the birthplace of the business, and today the properties leased by the platform are mainly in the region of Trancoso (BA), in Rio de Janeiro and in the Costa Verde of Rio de Janeiro.
The daily rates easily exceed R$ 20,000, and can be accompanied by transportation, a chef, babysitters, masseurs, personal trainers, tour guides and other services —paid separately.
To start the business, Bughon, who is French, convinced foreigners who owned houses in Brazil, but only used them a few weeks a year, to allow him to manage the properties and offer them for lease to tourists, making the most of the period when they are empty. .
Today, Latin Exclusive also works with traditional rental and sale of high-end houses and apartments. “The big difference to long-term rentals is that you can continue to use your property,” says the businessman.
Foreigners are still the company’s focus, but Bughon says that, after the pandemic, Brazilians already reach half of its customers.
According to Roy Martelanc, coordinator of the FIA Business School, the fact that the house is used for vacation rentals does not decrease its price in a later sale. “I haven’t seen any interference [no preço]the lease will imply in maintenance problems that affect more furniture than real estate”, he says.
The profitability obtained with this type of business also depends on the frequency of rental – whether just on some weekends or all the time – and on the professionalization of the service, says Martelanc.
According to Bughon, it has already been possible to get a return on the amount paid on a property with three years of vacation rental, but the profitability varies according to the location of the house.
BNBguests, another company specializing in the vacation rental of high-end properties, started operating in 2020 after a house owned by Jae Ho Lee, executive president of the Ornatus group, in Ilhabela (SP), was rented to tourists. He and his partners realized that there was an opportunity to monetize this type of residence and began to attract other houses in the city to be rented.
The platform currently has 125 residences in Ilhabela, Campos do Jordão and on the north coast of São Paulo. The business goal is to double the portfolio by January 2023 and double it again by 2024, reaching 500 properties, says Daniel Zetune, the company’s president.
According to him, each advertised house generates, on average, from R$ 200 thousand to R$ 300 thousand a year for the owner.
To achieve expansion, it is important to convince homeowners that their homes will be well cared for during the lease.. “The owners are not used to renting, they are very attached, they are properties that came from inheritance or were bought for the family to use”, says Zetune.
BNBguests do an inventory of the home and a team visits the property before and after each rental to ensure everything is in working order and nothing has been taken.
Retired Maria José Vilela rents a house she bought with her husband in Ilhabela, with seven bedrooms, but which became too big for both of them. The daily rate starts at R$ 1,480.
BNBguests charges a 20% to 28% fee from landlords on each rental, but Vilela says the rent is worth it. “I pay for a high-value condominium, gardener, cleaning lady, I can cover all the expenses of the house and leftovers”.
She says that the platform itself decides the pricing of the property, raising or lowering the price according to demand, to attract visitors. “Our house doesn’t run out of rent, this year we only had a free weekend, and New Year’s Eve was already booked in February”, he says.
The selection of clients is one of the measures adopted by these companies to avoid damage to properties. Bughon, from Latin Exclusive, claims to reject groups of men who want to come to Brazil to have parties every week.
He advises homeowners to lock high-value art and furniture in a room that can be easily damaged or stolen.
Both Latin Exclusive and BNBguests also advertise their properties on Airbnb, the largest showcase for vacation rentals.
Felipe Marcondes, Airbnb’s director of supply, points out that hosts can assess the purpose of the trip, whether it’s something family or for parties, but that this tool should not be used to discriminate against guests.
Airbnb does not include services in the accommodation, and advises that all communication and payment during the reservation be made only through the platform, to avoid fraud.
Outside the country, the company has a selection of luxury rental properties, but this tool is not yet available here. Meanwhile, those who want high-end homes can use the search filters, selecting items such as swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi.
Businessman Oskar Kedor rents out five houses he owns in Campos do Jordão, built on a site, one of them of high standard, with a daily rate of around R$2,700.
This house was built for the use of his family, who lived in it from 2013 until the beginning of the pandemic, but Kedor realized that there was a demand for properties of this standard in the region and decided to make it available on Airbnb, “with a little heartache” . The house has already been reserved for couples who want to take wedding photos, executives in a home office and even for publicity rehearsals.
Today, the money raised from the houses pays all the costs of the site, and Kedor already plans to have a sixth rental property on the site. “The site’s employees are paid with Airbnb, it ends up being a viable way to have equity, without it costing you”, he says.
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