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The Livin' is Easy: Many Choosing Full-Service Hotels to Avoid Headaches of Hamptons Summer Rentals

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Kira Peikoff, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Apr. 3--Several years ago, Marie Avedon and her husband, both 60, rented a summer house in Southampton expecting a calm getaway. Instead, they found themselves cleaning a 2,500-square-foot house, cooking and entertaining - when friends just happened to stop by - just what they would have done at home.

Since then, the couple, both retired consultants, have discovered a different option, one that some in the hospitality industry say has gained popularity: renting a hotel room for an extended period of time or multiple short weekends to reduce cost, increase leisure time or accommodate an inflexible schedule.

"Staying in a hotel, you have all the services and it is much more relaxing," Avedon, of Brooklyn, said, referring to having a daily maid service, shuttle service to the ocean and back, breakfast and coffee served each morning, and regular pool and lawn maintenance.

The couple is paying about $8,000 to stay at the Southampton Inn from July 30 through Aug. 28, compared with $12,500 when they rented a house for the month of July.

According to the owner of the Southampton Inn, Dede Gotthelf, the demand for long-term stays has risen this year as the price of housing rentals is slightly increasing and customers get savvier.

Stays "used to be more transient, for a weekend," Gotthelf said. "More and more, people this year are asking to rent for two weeks, three weeks." About 28 percent more long-term guests are booked this year compared with last year.

Gotthelf added that the stays are not consecutive and they often include time frames, such as July 6 to Aug. 13, that would not fit with housing rentals, which usually run month-to-month. A common request, Gotthelf said, is to book 60 or 70 days spread among different weeks and weekends throughout the summer, though one family is staying for the entire season, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The cost depends on the dates requested, but generally, prices run $4,950 for the month of June; $7,250 for July; and $9,900 for August. Comparatively, summer home rentals run from $13,000 to $350,000 for the whole season, according to real estate agent Alexis Dickinson Mayer of the Corcoran Group.

The Southampton Inn has around 2,100 bookings for the year so far, with a good portion comprised of summer stays. Of the 90 rooms available, at any time 60 percent are booked for more than one night, an increase this year of about 12 percent.

Despite the number of long-term hotel stays, real estate agents and hoteliers dismissed the possibility that such bookings would compete with the market for summer shares.

"If a renter is looking for a more private setting and wants to have house guests, they probably aren't going to be looking here," Gotthelf said. "We're not competing with rental properties; we're seeing a shift in our business from a short overnight stay to booking multiple extended stays." Not only are the stays longer, more rooms are filling up as well.

As a result, hotels are starting to court real estate agents like Mayer and offer them commissions for sending customers to hotels.

Mayer said the Southampton Inn has been the first hotel to reach out to her, offering a 10 percent commission for referrals, a policy Gotthelf said was used in the past but that has taken off this year. Mayer added that other brokers are starting to present hotels as options for clients as well.

"It's a new thing from hotels," Mayer said, adding that it will complement the summer housing market, which is starting to pick up, instead of hurt it.

"The people that I deal with want to invite friends out and have parties," Mayer said. "They want a home in the Hamptons and they want to feel that they are owners ... There's such a wide variety of places to choose from and only a few hotels, so hotels doing this solves the problem for us of problematic people who have awkward time frames."

Despite the services a hotel offers, for some people there is still no place like home, an attitude that cottage owner Barbara Young is hoping to capitalize on.

Young plans to rent out her two-bedroom cottage in Southampton for the summer for about $25,000.

"It's got everything right there," Young said of the 1,000-square-foot cottage with a backyard garden, barbecue and pool. "It's more private. You have all of the comforts of home."

But for guests who just can't stand the thought of dealing with cleaning, utility costs, landscaping and garbage removal, hotels in the Hamptons may be an efficient option.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

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Source: Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

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