Lawrence loosened its short-term rental rules ahead of the World Cup in hopes of catching a wave of visitor demand. Those temporary licenses expired this week, and a couple of local hosts say it was more bust than boom. In January, Lawrence city commissioners voted to temporarily lift the city’s cap on the number of short-term rentals — such as Airbnb and Vrbo listings — that property owners may hold, as Kansas City and surrounding areas prepared for a surge of visitors. Kansas City hosted six World Cup games between June 16 and July 11. According to KC2026, about 413,000 people attended matches at Arrowhead Stadium, and there were more than 400,000 FIFA Fan Fest attendees. Its original estimates were for 650,000 unique visitors. Altogether, the city issued 26 temporary short-term rental licenses that took effect May 25 and expired July 26, after the conclusion of the World Cup matches, according to information from Lawrence City Clerk Sherri Riedemann. Local artist Liza MacKinnon said she wanted to make money and use the opportunity to complete long-needed home repairs after her only child moved out. In preparation for listing her home as a short-term rental, MacKinnon painted the interior, had it deep cleaned, renovated the kitchen and bathroom, bought all new linens, dishes and cookware, added a FOX Sports subscription so guests could watch the matches and installed a keypad on her door. When first interviewed on May 15, said she had not received any World Cup-related bookings, and as of June 5, she still had none. By July 21, she said, she’d had five bookings, but only one tied to the event. In May, longtime rental property owner Mark Kern said he’d pivoted to renting his property to a relocation company for the month of June because he didn’t see World Cup bookings rolling in. “I’m really surprised that we haven’t had any (bookings) yet,” Kern said two weeks before the tournament. “We have not even had anybody inquire about renting it for any of the (World Cup) dates.” More recently, Kern said the property was his only short-term rental and was an experiment to see whether it could generate extra summer revenue, but he also didn’t have any bookings in July. According to data provided by AirDNA, a company that tracks data on properties listed on Airbnb and Vrbo, the demand for STRs in Lawrence and Douglas County increased 29% during the tournament period. But the supply of listings also increased 26.8%, absorbing the increased volume. Occupancy peaked at 72% on June 25. That was the day when the Netherlands faced Tunisia in Kansas City, and the USA vs. Turkey match was held in Los Angeles. AirDNA’s analysis found that “Notably, the World Cup impacted pricing significantly more than it did booking volume.” In late June, local average daily rates peaked at nearly $300. The two STR owners had positive reviews about the process. Property owner Kern said the city’s process was straightforward, and he thinks the temporary rules should be permanent. The temporary STR licensing fee was $17, plus a $50 inspection fee. Property owner Liza MacKinnon said she also needed a $1 million liability insurance rider on top of her home insurance. “I’ve stayed in Airbnbs in other places, and they’ve been pretty janky at times, and so I was surprised by how careful the city wants us to be,” MacKinnon said. MacKinnon said the city’s licensing process was easy to follow. “People were very responsive with questions that I had, and I was able to schedule the inspection when my contractor was there. The contractor just made a list of the things that needed to be changed or fixed,” MacKinnon said. “Then the inspector let us send him a video and some snapshots just proving that those things had been done, and so it’s very smooth.”
Read more: The Lawrence Times
