Is It Possible to Host an Anti-Capitalist Retreat?

My first experience with Airbnb was actually my sibling's experience. They rented a room in an apartment in Washington DC to go look for a place to live and work in advance of moving there for a teacher certification program. I was worried about them staying with strangers, but my fearless sibster set out and had an amazing time. Their short-term housemates were a bunch of Turkish guys who made them Turkish coffee and offered their advice about local places to look for housing and work. 

Between that experience and today, I've had a lot of Airbnb experiences. I've rented homes in Knoxville, TN to visit my brother and Salem, MA to have a romantic weekend with a partner. When I worked in corporate marketing, our photography team would often rent Airbnbs to use as photoshoot locations. And I hosted a retreat in a Vrbo rental that was a historic homestead nestled in northeast Ohio. 

During my first year leading the Working Title Writing Incubator, the topic of a retreat came up and everyone was very interested. So in my second round of enrollment for a new cohort, I decided to include a retreat with the program. The biggest problem: finding a retreat property that met our group requirements for accommodations, along with my own personal ethical requirements, which had grown considerably over my years of Airbnb use. 

The Problem with Airbnb

We live in a late-state capitalist society and I am not perfect. I use services like Instacart, DoorDash, and the occasional Amazon purchase. I know that these companies do everything they can to maximize corporate profits and minimize what they pay the workers who make their services operate. 

And while I used to love Airbnb for vacations to get a home away from home feel, I've become more and more upset with them with each passing year. What started as a fun way to find vetted, low-cost rentals while traveling has become a major contributor to the housing crisis. 

In their 2020 paper The Effect of Home-Sharing on House Prices and Rents: Evidence from Airbnb, economy researchers Kyle Barron, Edward Kung, and Davide Proserpio found that a one percent increase in Airbnb listings led to a 0.018% increase in rent prices and a 0.026% increase in house prices. At scale, those relatively tiny percentages actually account for nearly 20% of rent increases in the US across a four year span from 2012-2016.  

One percent more Airbnb listings means a 20% increase in housing costs for renters.

Long story short: It's harder to find housing, whether renting or buying, when properties are getting snatched up as soon as they hit the market and turned into Airbnbs. 

Thus, the fucking problem in trying to host a retreat for 10+ people that doesn't contribute to this heinous elephant in the room.

My Anti-Capitalist Retreat Wish-List

My vision for my neurodiversity-affirming, anti-capitalist retreats includes:

• Multiple communal spaces available so that people can gather for quiet activities or noisy activities without bothering each other 

• A big kitchen and dining area for cooking and eating together 

• At least 8 beds, ideally with several private bedrooms available for folks who aren't comfortable rooming with people they don't know well 

• Not an average, residential home that someone would reasonably move their family into (which means I look for cabins, true vacation homes, historic homesteads, farmhouses, mansions, etc.) 

• Not a home that was obviously built by enslaved African people (which rules out most homes in the southern US that meet the above size criteria)

• Bonus: A private pool would be nice, and if I could bring my dog that would also delight me. 

I'm reaching a point where I think the future of my writing retreats will look like hotels or dedicated retreat centers rather than trying to find something on a short-term rental site like Airbnb or Vrbo that doesn't contribute to the ethical concerns. Using the platforms at all means that those services make money, and that is an undeniable "vote" with my dollars. 

The Search for the Spring Retreat Venue

The fall retreat was an incredible experience. We stayed in a historic home in Norton, Ohio that was the birthplace and childhood home of Frank A. Sieberling, the co-founder of Goodyear Tires. His more well-known former home is Stan Hywet Hall in Akron, Ohio. One of my writers is building a fantasy world based on an alternate reality post-apocalyptic United States rust belt. He draws from many real industrial founders and families, including the Sieberlings, in his worldbuilding.

I may be a bit of a hopeless romantic, and I am always looking for signs from the universe that things are divinely guided. This was one of those moments. But when I found this rental and read that the actual Frank Sieberling was BORN in this house? It was a no-brainer. I booked it immediately. And telling my good friend, who trusted me to help him realize his book, that we were staying in F. A. Sieberling's childhood home and seeing the look of absolute amazement on his face was worth it. 

Now that I'm planning the Spring 2024 enrollment and retreat, I wanted to revisit my method for searching for a venue. I wouldn't change a thing about our Pillar House stay in October, but I do want to be more intentional about how I am making financial investments on behalf of my business. Which means... I don't think Airbnb or Vrbo are going to cut it anymore. 

For instance, I was searching Vrbo to browse and see what might be available when I found something labeled a Mansion in its headline. Then I saw that it had a lot of bedrooms... and also bathrooms. I thought maybe it was a Bed and Breakfast that someone was renting out, which would be okay with me since that's a business and not housing (although, refurbing old B&Bs could be a great way to create affordable housing apartments...) Alas, this "mansion" was actually four entire townhomes being rented out together. That means FOUR HOMES that people could be LIVING IN. 

Disgusted with Vrbo and myself, I closed the tab. 

Retreat Centers

My next move was to start looking for retreat centers, businesses that operate retreats and handle the accommodations, meals, and meeting spaces on their grounds. After frustration as I kept turning up religious based retreat centers in my search results, I found a company called Getaway, which has TINY CABINS! Each cabin has sleeping accommodation for two, either a Queen bed or bunks, and amenities for each cabin to bathe and cook. They have a contact form to inquire about group rentals, so that's my next step. And best of all, I stumbled onto finding their program called A Year of Rest, which provides 365 FREE nights of accommodations to Black activists. Holy shit, a value match. Wish me luck as I continue on this process! I'll be sharing more updates along the way as I plan the Spring 2024 retreat and future retreats.