Miami condo owners wager on US$40,000-a-night Super Bowl rentals

New York

JENNIFER Restrepo circled Super Bowl weekend on her calendar and decided to make a bet.

Ms Restrepo, who manages short-term rentals for Miami condo owners, kept her listings quiet as she gauged demand and watched competitors set prices.

These days, she's busy blasting out Facebook and Instagram ads that position her beachfront units as the perfect base to mingle with celebrities and athletes in one of the world's top party cities.

The rentals won't come cheap - US$5,500 a night for a one-bedroom condo at the 1 Hotel South Beach or US$40,000 for a four-bedroom penthouse at the luxury hotel.

With four-night minimums and more than 20 units, the Super Bowl could be a rare windfall for Ms Restrepo's company, which gets a 20 per cent cut of the rental fee in return for managing listings, handling maintenance and pampering guests.

"It's exciting, but it's also super nerve-wracking to hold your units until the end," she said.

The Super Bowl is the biggest and most prestigious sporting event in the United States. It pits the National Football League's (NFL) two best teams of the season against each other.

On Feb 2 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, the San Francisco 49ers will face the Kansas City Chiefs to decide the champion for the NFL's 100th season.

With the game less than a fortnight away, visitors from across the US and around the world will flood the area to watch the match. February is always peak season in South Florida, making rooms for football fans hard to come by and sending rates soaring.

The W South Beach is asking US$3,798 a night, about triple the rate for the weekend after the game.

Lesser brands are also making guests pay up. The Ramada in downtown Hollywood, Florida, about 16km from the stadium, was asking US$692 a night, while the Days Inn at the airport was listing rooms for US$399.

Partygoers with bigger budgets can look to short-term rentals. Josh Dotoli, who runs a team of Compass agents in Fort Lauderdale, is marketing a seven-bedroom waterfront estate for US$8,000 a night. The owner will provide a van and driver for an additional fee.

Mr Dotoli rooted for the 49ers to reach the Super Bowl championship match, betting that wealthy venture capitalists or technology executives would make last-minute inquiries.

"It's going to be a week of events and parties - just upscale debauchery," he said.

When setting prices, hotels use software to forecast demand, scan rates at nearby properties and adjust to maximise revenue.

In most cases, they will also rely on humans to weigh factors that algorithms miss, like the willingness of 49ers fans to travel across the country, or the relative wealth of football fans from Kansas City.

Ms Restrepo practises a low-tech spin on those tactics, scanning competing listings and adjusting prices accordingly.

She specialises in managing apartments at luxury hotels, where owners - and short-term renters - can access fitness areas, spas and other amenities.

She leans on social media to market her units, relying on paid ads and a network of online influencers, who like the condos because they are more spacious than the biggest hotel rooms and provide better amenities than the listings on home-sharing sites like Airbnb.

"Influencers are travelling non-stop and want to look like they have these special accommodations," said Dan Fleyshman, founder of social media agency Elevator Studio and an investor in Ms Restrepo's company, Five Star Luxury Travel. BLOOMBERG