When the Sundance Film Festival makes its debut in Boulder in January, tens of thousands of attendees will descend on the city. They will do deals, go to screenings and walk the red carpet, creating demand for places to stay beyond the city's hotels.
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Last October, the city of Boulder created a special short-term rental license specifically for the festival. For homeowner Dan Andrews, the opportunity initially sounded appealing; he applied for a license immediately.
"We did it right away. We were pretty intrigued right away," Andrews said.
He and his wife thought renting out their four-bedroom home in North Boulder might earn enough money to cover their mortgage for a few months.
"But it wasn't until we started learning more that we were like, 'Hmm, this may not be for us actually,'" he said.
Preparing the home for guests would require significant work. Andrews, an AI engineer, would need to convert his home office into a bedroom by moving his equipment to the basement, installing a locking basement door and buying bedroom furniture. He would also want to hire a property manager to oversee the rental while his family is away.
"For us it was really a question of, well, how many days could we actually rent it out for, and at what price?" he said.
Those are among the questions many Boulder homeowners are weighing as they decide whether to rent out their homes during the festival.
The city currently has about 1,300 active licenses for festival rentals and short-term rentals. Exactly how many homes will be available is unknown because some are privately listed.
The number of visitors who will need lodging is also unknown. Historically, the Sundance Film Festival has attracted between 86,000 to 125,000 in-person attendees, with around one-third coming from out-of-state.
The plan is to meet festival housing needs through accommodations in surrounding communities and by expanding Boulder’s short-term rental capacity.
The city of Denver is planning to offer free shuttles to Sundance from select hotels, according to Visit Denver, the city's tourism board.
Louisville, which has historically prohibited short-term rentals, approved a temporary licensing program earlier this year, allowing residents to rent out their homes during the festival.
Boulder itself has limited hotel availability, an issue it acknowledged in its pitch to attract the festival from its long-time home in Park City, Utah.
To encourage participation, organizers have spent months promoting the opportunity through meetings, mixers and webinars.
"This event is bonkers,” said Caleb Dickinson of Louisville-based Fox Property Management during a webinar earlier this year. “There aren't enough hotel rooms. We need people to open up their homes. It’s not just a way to make money. It’s needed for the event."
The Sundance rental market is still taking shape, with homeowners and property managers trying to determine appropriate pricing.
"It's OK to make money when you're inconveniencing yourself and giving away a great asset to someone else," Dickinson said.
Those inconveniences can include preparing a home for guests, moving out temporarily and managing disruptions to work, school and pets.
Pricing will vary depending on a home's size, location and amenities.
"Maybe you get Tom Cruise to stay in your place, and money's not a thing, but maybe you get a first-time director with an independent film who's never made much money wanting to stay in your home," Dickinson said.
Six months before the festival, Airbnb listings for the 11-day event ranged from about $20,000 to $60,000. Boulder's pricing guide recommends a lower rate for a high-end, walkable four-bedroom home — about $15,000 for the same period.
Housing prices, according to Ross Bowdey, the company’s director of midterm rentals, are giving Fox’s corporate clients second thoughts. He says some may skip Sundance this year, send a smaller team, or stay outside of Boulder.
“So I think they are having a little bit of sticker shock, and who knows where they'll end up by the time January comes, but that's the bulk of what I'm hearing,” Bowdey said.
Jill Grano, who until recently was Sundance's Colorado housing coordinator, is feeling hopeful that the region can meet the need. She cited internal Airbnb data from the World Cup showing that most housing inventory did not become available until just a few months before the event.
She also noted that the number of short-term rental licenses continues to increase.
"All of the numbers are actually starting to point in a good direction, a place that we weren't in a couple months ago," Grano said.
For now, Dan Andrews plans to decide by the end of the summer whether he and his wife will rent out their home. He said he would welcome some type of city incentive, such as a rebate or tax break, to offset the work involved.
"Because I am already picturing all the work I'm gonna have to do to get all my stuff from upstairs down to the basement," Andrews said. "I would hopefully be able to hire somebody to help, but that's not free."
For now, he said, he may skip the festival's first year and see how the rental market develops.
