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Super Bowl 2008 home rentals market

January 9th, 2008 by Kenric

I don’t personally have a Super Bowl rental on the market here in Phoenix but I do have a few friends with rentals on the market.  I check craigslist and a few local superbowl rental sites daily just to get an idea on the market.  Now that we are less than a month away from the Superbowl, there seems to be a huge influx in rental homes.  The prices seem to have come down a little, but it looks like most homeowners are still holding out for what seems to me unrealistically high expectations.

While hotel rooms are pretty expensive, can renting a home be more cost efficient?  A quick search today showed rooms available at some mid-lower end hotels for $400 a night.  So let’s assume they book 4 nights and the rooms are 2 queen beds which sleep 4.  Their total cost is $1,600.  Compare this to small rental homes that are asking $5,000 for the week.

What has to happen in order for a rental home to be better than a hotel room.

In order for a rental home to be worth its price, your Superbowl party must be relatively large.  It would take a group of 8 or 10 adults to make renting a $5,000 home worth its price.  I would guess that most football fans come in smaller groups.

Are Superbowl fans staying an entire week?  Most houses are listed by the week.  Do people come on Monday and leave on Monday or are they just showing up for the weekend?  People who are staying for more than 4 nights should probably look into a rental by the week.

How much time do the people coming here plan to stay in their rooms?  I would venture to say that room time will be kept to a minimum.   If this is the case, who would pay a lodging premium when that extra money could be spent elsewhere.

Why would I pay a premium?

If it were me and I had to choose between a hotel room in Phoenix vs. a rental home within walking distance to the Stadium, I would pay the additional money to be closer to the stadium.  For this reason, I think that any rental homes close to the stadium can command a much higher price.  There will be enough to do in Westgate that someone renting a home there will not need a rental car.

So how’s the market?

I think that it’s a tough market right now.  My friends have not received any calls on their Superbowl rental homes.  I think that there is just so much to choose from and that fans may wait until after the Superbowl teams have been determined.  Let’s just hope it’s a good match up.  If San Diego makes it, you’ll probably get alot of people just driving up and going home.  I think that New England vs. Dallas would be the best matchup in terms of ratings.

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