Diversify Lodging Options

With the rise—and staying power—of remote work and bleisure travel, destinations are positioning themselves to capture the demand from visitors who have the flexibility to work from anywhere with a good wi-fi connection. More workers who travel for conferences and conventions are also choosing to extend their trips by one or more days to explore the destination’s offerings. Lifestyle/boutique hotels, with their unique designs and personalized amenities and services, provide a welcome range of choices for such visitors. Currently, short-term rentals have a larger presence in secondary visitor-supporting neighborhoods such as Liberty/Highland Park, and South Side Flats. Given that these neighborhoods have no/low inventory of hotel rooms, Pittsburgh has a prime opportunity to close the service gap by increasing the supply of lodging through short-term rentals – primarily for leisure travelers.