Staycations Catching On

The economy leaves many with no other choices, but there are other reasons too.

Staycations have become a popular option for more homeowners, in many cases because they cannot afford the luxury vacation of years past. Staycations refer to local (or fairly local) vacations, including spending the vacation at home. The time can be devoted to local sites you’ve always wanted to see (or just found out about), new hobbies or other activities, or projects around the home that have been stuck on your to do list for years. Staycations are often fairly brief, also due to economic considerations. In some cases other factors are also involved – some homeowners want to lighten their carbon footprint, or they are sick and tired of the hassles of airline travel today. In an era when airline service has become an oxymoron and baggage charges can exceed the airline ticket price, who can blame them?

Some staycations might better be described as mini vacations. Well situated destinations are benefiting from the trend. While many giant luxury cruise ships are leaving port with many empty rooms, smaller vessels are doing fine. John Gibson, owner of Downriver Canoe Company (http://www.downriver.com/) not far from Washington, DC, said he’s experiencing the best year of the company’s 30 year history. Many customers have told him that a whitewater canoe, tube or raft trip down the Shenandoah River is a great alternative that is much easier on the wallet than their past summer vacations.

Some homeowners can still afford the two week trip to Europe, but instead are repurposing vacation budgets to remodeling projects that can help rebuild lost equity in their home. The money saved from such a vacation can translate into a nice deck or outdoor kitchen, both perfect places to spend part of their staycation. According to Arizona Tile Company, “Favorite retreats or leisure spots outside of the home are mimicked inside the home property (indoor and outdoor) to create a vacation or leisure-like setting, in order to create a “staycation” environment. People are using their set-aside vacation budgets for home remodeling as staying-at-home for vacations has become more common.” In addition to adding equity the homeowners benefit from long term enjoyment of the improvement or increased marketability of their home if a sale is in their future.

Simply Google “staycation” and you’ll learn how popular they’ve become (1,340,000 results for staycation ideas). They cover everything from planning your staycation to lists of possible staycation ideas. It quickly became apparent that a staycation can be every bit as exhausting as a vacation if you’re willing to put the work into it.

The number of staycation ideas and suggestions is almost endless. It’s worth a few minutes toreview several of the lists. You’re almost certain to see a couple of great ideas that never occurred to you, and are worth doing, whether your economic circumstance limits your choices or not. One of the longer lists is at http://www.supereco.com/news/2009/05/07/how-to-plan-a-staycation/  It also has embedded links for more information on each of its 37 suggestions.

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Technology Experts Argue that Too Much Regulation Hurts Innovation

While many policymakers are recognizing the threat, backsliding continues.

There have been relatively few bright spots in the American economy in recent years. From the perspective of American homeowners, one of them has been the continuing evolution of new information and communications technology tools that have made their personal and business lives significantly better and more productive.

Along with this progress there have been numerous and contentious debates over whether additional regulation of that sector is needed, and if so what form it should take. In recent months a more collaborative approach has begun to emerge. Legislators, regulators, and consumer groups with diverse philosophies, and corporations with competing business objectives have begun to cut back on rhetoric in favor of more productive dialogue to seek mutually acceptable solutions to policy challenges in this area. As an organization whose members are predominantly pragmatists and moderates, the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance is delighted with this development.

As reported in the June issue of Home Base, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have initiated collaborative discussions on the best way to repurpose the Universal Service Fund (USF) to promote broadband build-out and affordability. The USF was originally focused on insuring that all consumers had access to wireline telephone service, but it is clear consumers are rapidly abandoning that earlier technology in favor of wireless service, which today can also provide increasingly sophisticated Internet access. The Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau hosted June discussions with key stakeholders with opposing perspectives to try to narrow differences. Congress has also begun hearings on how to modify the USF, and will provide the FCC needed direction and authority in that area.

In the House of Representatives, Internet Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA.) and Ranking Member Cliff Stearns (R-FL) are also meeting with stakeholders with diverse perspectives to develop a new framework for broadband Internet service regulation. That effort is necessary in light of a recent court decision that casts questions regarding the FCC’s current scope of authority in that area. The FCC also hosted a June meeting with key business stakeholders to explore the possibility of developing a consensus approach regarding “network neutrality,” the principle that consumers are entitled to unrestricted access to Internet information, including products and services. It would have been better if those discussions had preceded the FCC’s announcement of a regulatory regime to achieve those goals, but late is better than never. In July, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) indirectly lent his support to a more collaborative approach when he asked the FCC chairman to drop his current push to re-regulate broadband lines.

In the face of dramatic growth in mobile spectrum consumption, we will soon run out of available spectrum suitable for mobile applications unless the inventory is expanded. The FCC is also working with TV stations to encourage them to allow the government to auction some of their unused spectrum that is suitable for mobile applications, in exchange for a share of the auction proceeds.

“We don’t believe that these more collaborative efforts will resolve all the differences on every issue,” observed American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance President Bruce Hahn. “What they will hopefully do is reduce the scope of differences, improving the chances of a successful outcome. By removing much of the uncertainty regarding the final resolution, the policy debate is likely to have less of an impact on the continued flow of new technologies and tools.

The importance of more certainty in technology policy was underscored by a panel of financial experts speaking at a July seminar sponsored by the New York Law School. Telecom analysts and consultants observed that the FCC’s consideration of network neutrality and broadband regulation reclassification is creating uncertainty in the minds of telecom sector investors. With such investments subject to higher risk because of the rapid development of new technologies and/or requiring many years to recover, the introduction of external policy factors that could add more risk could also undermine investment. That in turn could slow the process of innovation and access to these services by the unserved or the underserved.

The importance of minimizing uncertainty applies to all the various policy debates in the technology sector. Unfortunately, there continue to be unilateral regulatory initiatives in this area that that could hurt consumers and slow the evolution of new technology. One example was the June introduction of federal legislation to require all homeowners and other consumers to pay sales taxes on all of their Internet purchases.

The legislation was introduced at the request of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), which represents owners of shopping malls. Internet Commerce is growing rapidly as consumers grow to appreciate not only the time saving and selection it offers, but also saving drives to the mall, auto expenses and air pollution, traffic hassles, and the difficulty of finding a convenient parking spot in the mall parking lot in the middle of a hot August day. Consumers are also increasingly having their garage sales on the Internet, which explains why 85% of consumers oppose sales taxes on Internet purchases. Hopefully the bill’s sponsor, Representative William Delahunt (D – MA 10) and NAREIT will both will take a cue from other players in the technology sector, and initiate a dialogue with consumer groups and others on the other side of the issue to explore alternative solutions to the decline of shopping malls.

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