Well, there's no tunnel, but maybe there's a light at end of the bridge

A couple of months ago, I zoomed with a former colleague. When we spoke - in the throes of the Massachusetts lockdown, when things appeared especially grim - he was mulling whether to cancel his family's two-week reservation for a house on Nantucket. Yes, it would be a change of scenery, but what it nothing was open? Yes, as his kids are getting older, it might be one of the last opportunities for a family vacation, but what if the ferries weren't running? Yes, he, his wife (a nurse) and kids are all healthy and following COVID-avoidance best practices, but what if someone gets really sick when they're out there in the medically challenged wilds of Nantucket.

We haven't chatted since, but I hope that he and the fam are there now.

Whether this one family went through with their rental or not, when the pandemic struck - and Massachusetts got hit hard and early - a lot of folks did cancel their reservations.

But as dire as things looked a while back, the Cape and Islands have been inching back towards some semblance of normalcy. Sun, sand, surf, lobster rolls, ice cream cones. Fried clams - with bellies, not those faux and treacherous clam strips you find in less fortunate parts of the country. Quaint little Cape Cod weathered-shingle houses. Outdoor showers. (The very best way to bathe.) Rose-covered trellises. Tee-shirts and floaties. Hydrangeas. Even mini-golf! Sharks, too, are being spotted offshore all over the place.

The pandemic has brought a boom for short-term rentals on Cape Cod and the Islands as vacationers rush to book a cure for their cabin fever. In an unexpected twist for homeowners and agents who had braced for a bust, summer 2020 is turning out to be even stronger than previous years that did not have public health concerns or a recession hanging over the rental market.

According to WeNeedAVacation.com, a local website that markets short-term rentals on the Cape and Islands, total bookings so far are 24 percent above last year. Vacancy rates are at or below 5 percent for most of the summer, well below levels of last summer.

Julie Jason, co-owner of Waterfront Rentals in West Yarmouth, said half of the 160 rental contracts her agency lined up earlier this year were canceled at one point; now, nearly every single week is booked again.

“The market right now, it just exploded,” Jason said. “I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, and I’ve never experienced the volume of inquiries and bookings for such a short period of time.” (Source: Boston Globe)

Hotels are not faring quite as well. Occupancy rates are okay, but the price for rooms is down. Unlike short-term rental costs, which have held up pretty well. 

In a home of your own, however short term, you can socially distance. It's easier to do take-out when you're not spreading your bucket of fried clams out on a hotel room bed. Etc.

Some of the folks renting are traditional vacationers; others are work-from-homers with cabin fever who're eager to look at a new set of walls, as long as the Wi-Fi is good.

I'm happy that the Cape may be able to salvage their season. Other than the insane traffic getting over the Sagamore or the Bourne Bridge during prime time, and the stop and go on Route 6, it's a great getaway. 

As the Patti Page song goes, "If you spend an evening, then you'll want to stay..."

Yep!