Airbn-ski?

Online home-rental services, such as Airbnb, are reinventing ski travel and helping homeowners pay their mortgages. But at a cost: more nuisance for neighbors and a tighter housing crunch.

- Paul Tolme

WHEN BOOKING SKI LODGINGS, JONATHAN

Retseck doesn’t bother with central reservations anymore. The Manhattan sports-marketing firm owner logs on to Airbnb.com and checks out reviews of private homes. “It’s our default these days,” says Retseck, who has booked with Airbnb at ski areas including Killington, Vt., and Park City, Utah. “There are more options, and you can find something unique.”

Never used Airbnb? Like the transportation app Uber, it’s a wildly successful startup in the so-called sharing economy that lets individuals conduct person-to-person transactions. And like Uber—which has done nothing less than radically alter traditional transit services—Airbnb is altering the lodging industry by allowing private homeowners to become private hoteliers.

The benefit is a wider range of choices and prices than with traditional lodging. “You cut out the middleman, the property management firm, which means you can get a better deal,” says Flylow Gear founder Dan Abrams, who uses Airbnb and competitor VRBO for business and vacation travel.

Private ski-town vacation rentals are not new. Services such VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) have existed since the emergence of the Internet economy. Airbnb is the new kid. Just six years old, the startup is valued at more than $25 billion, with rental properties in 191 countries. Skiers can rent a ski chalet, a modest two-bedroom condo, or even a camper van parked in a driveway. “Vacation rentals used to be secluded second homes in the woods. Now because of Airbnb it can be a room in somebody’s basement,” says Melanie Rees, a housing consultant who did a study on the booming short-term rental industry for the Colorado Association of Ski Towns.