Am I Becoming Extinct?

[Generic]

Well, in the last few months, quite a few of the city's B&Bs have gone up for sale or been sold. I'm now wondering if I'm becoming the grand ol' dame. The largest, which actually used 2 licences for two different buildings is for sale. It said both buildings were for sale, but I see only one, so maybe one sold? The two places I most often sent people to... sold.

We changed our licence last year because the government changed the rules and it lowered our taxes. This year, they changed it again and we had to reregister. Not sure how that will change our taxes.

But it's REALLY quiet. REALLY quiet. Even thinking that maybe I should rent some rooms long term for the winter. How's everyone else doing?

 

[gillumhouse]

I am the ONLY B & B in my County.The others closed and of the 3 that were in the County to the north 1 closed many years ago (retirement) and 1 just made the final decision to close (had been thinking about it for a couple years and the virus cemented the decision - hubs is a retired miner). Only the newest one is still open there (about 5 years). It will be lack of guests to close me because it is too much effort to clean out the owners quarters. The kids can fent a few dumpsters - they will not care what is in those tubs of papers and photos.

 

[Morticia]

@Generic yes, deadly quiet. According to today’s paper the state is running at 45% occupancy, but it seems they took into account houses for rent, not just rooms. So, one company worth 150 rentals is full until late August, but it’s nothing like that around here.

 

[Eugee]

The airbnb business model is saturated around us with people that throw up a place to stay and (Now more than ever) just want to email or text the entry code and never see anyone.
Here too, I see BB’s closing but maybe it’s because they are older and don’t want to expose themselves? In any case, business will emerge stronger when this is over.
Now more than ever, people like to see the owner, hear the history of the house and a little about restaurants and what to see in the area. When I check in people I distance but only wear the mask at breakfast. It’s momentary normalcy. Human contact still wins over for the majority of people.

 

[Char]

I am the ONLY B & B in my County.The others closed and of the 3 that were in the County to the north 1 closed many years ago (retirement) and 1 just made the final decision to close (had been thinking about it for a couple years and the virus cemented the decision - hubs is a retired miner). Only the newest one is still open there (about 5 years). It will be lack of guests to close me because it is too much effort to clean out the owners quarters. The kids can fent a few dumpsters - they will not care what is in those tubs of papers and photos.

We are in Upshur County, not far from you. Business had slowed quite a bit, but beginning to pick up again.

 

[Generic]

The airbnb business model is saturated around us with people that throw up a place to stay and (Now more than ever) just want to email or text the entry code and never see anyone.
Here too, I see BB’s closing but maybe it’s because they are older and don’t want to expose themselves? In any case, business will emerge stronger when this is over.
Now more than ever, people like to see the owner, hear the history of the house and a little about restaurants and what to see in the area. When I check in people I distance but only wear the mask at breakfast. It’s momentary normalcy. Human contact still wins over for the majority of people.

As of the 1st of May, they are supposed to be enforcing that they show their licence number on their listing. I haven't seen them enforce it. But I have mine posted. Most of them can't get a licence, because if you weren't licenced before, they will only licence if you are on a main street now.

 

[gillumhouse]

We are in Upshur County, not far from you. Business had slowed quite a bit, but beginning to pick up again.

Have had enough to go pay my real estate taxes for the year with enough on the books to pay the bills next month so I am doing OK. Stop in if you are coming this way. Call to be sure I am home - am involved in a lot of crap so not always in.

 

[Char]

Have had enough to go pay my real estate taxes for the year with enough on the books to pay the bills next month so I am doing OK. Stop in if you are coming this way. Call to be sure I am home - am involved in a lot of crap so not always in.

That would be fun. Also, if you are in Buckhannon, please stop by A Governor's Inn!

 

[Olga]

As of the 1st of May, they are supposed to be enforcing that they show their licence number on their listing. I haven't seen them enforce it. But I have mine posted. Most of them can't get a licence, because if you weren't licenced before, they will only licence if you are on a main street now.

Licence for Bed and Breakfast or AirBnB?

 

[FHI2426]

we listed our rooms on Air and are getting a reasonable amount of business that way in addition to direct bookers

 

[Arks]

we listed our rooms on Air and are getting a reasonable amount of business that way in addition to direct bookers

Same here. They are people who probably wouldn't have found me otherwise. So far they have been very good guests. Once I finally figured out how to email them directly from my reservation software, so they get the same automatic turn-by-turn directions, etc. as other guests do, it has been great.

 

[ramonalea]

As of the 1st of May, they are supposed to be enforcing that they show their licence number on their listing. I haven't seen them enforce it. But I have mine posted. Most of them can't get a licence, because if you weren't licenced before, they will only licence if you are on a main street now.

Hopefully there will be less Abnb in the near future with Abnb removing taxes from each reservation. The IRS will be catching up to a lot of them who are pocketing their revenue and not claiming any of it on taxes.

 

[witthuus]

Hopefully there will be less Abnb in the near future with Abnb removing taxes from each reservation. The IRS will be catching up to a lot of them who are pocketing their revenue and not claiming any of it on taxes.

AirBnB and VRBO started collecting and remitting taxes in some states a while ago. I guess this is because many of them collected but never reported any taxes

 

[Generic]

I get hardly any business from Air, but that's because I have to actually collect and pay taxes. That's why I have been waiting for the revenue department to start prosecution.

 

[Arks]

I get hardly any business from Air, but that's because I have to actually collect and pay taxes. That's why I have been waiting for the revenue department to start prosecution.

For my state, Air automatically collects and sends the government all the taxes, including city and county taxes, so I just have to remember to manually set the Air reservations to "tax exempt" in ReseKey so my end of month "sales tax to send in" report is accurate.

It's wonderful, because even the people renting one bedroom in their house are collecting the taxes just like I am, without the "non-business" people having to set up a state sales tax account and fill out and send in the monthly reports. Air does it all for them.

 

[GoodScout]

I had a joyous moment of Schadenfreude here back in June when the state announced its grant program for lodging properties. It announced that it would use last year's Rooms & Meals Tax payments as a guide to how much each lodging and restaurant property received.

All the Air pirates who had hidden their tax receipts, had failed to charge and collect them, or had used AirBnB's "hide yourself" tax number squealed like stuck pigs.

Sadly, some were able to figure out how to get a grant by using the state's program for other business types, but if was fun to watch them get hoisted by their own greed and lawlessness.

 

[Arks]

...or had used AirBnB's "hide yourself" tax number...

Air sends out 1099s so the IRS and the states know how much they pay to "inns". The government has good computers that can usually find people trying to hide money.

I'm joking. People are very good at hiding unreported income!

 

[GoodScout]

You miss my point. By using the AirBnB state tax number, our state has no idea who any of the AirBnBs are, or what they really owe. The state gets a check from AirBnB each month that says basically "We owe you $28,000. Here it is!" No list of hosts, no breakdown of revenues, nothing.

So when all the hosts cry that they collected and paid in room taxes, they're really being disingenuous. Air collected and paid it. They never saw it.

 

[Morticia]

@GoodScout — and who knows if air is even sending all of the tax money. With zero oversight they could keep a percentage of every sale. We were told to keep good records of any tax revenue air supposedly paid on our behalf because we are low hanging fruit without high-priced lawyers who can prevaricate and stall until the state can’t pay to fight. We print out every air reservation and file it.

 

[GoodScout]

Yeah, that's the amazing thing about these "tax agreements" that states and towns have accepted with AirBnB -- in return for getting some tax money, they sign away their right to audit AirBnB or ask for information about hosts. So they have to trust they're not getting cheated.

Me? The state has audited me once. It was a tedious and painful procedure. The AirBnB hosts? They all get a pass.