These Nantucket Brand Homes Give You All the Benefits of Hotel Living

Last spring, a wealthy Manhattan family was conducting their annual rental search for the month of August in Nantucket. They found many suitors for their multigenerational vacation, but each house fell through for different reasons: one was too far from town, another didn’t accept children under 12. Real estate agents explained to the family that most of the accommodations were prime and sought-after after the homes had been rented months ago.

Alas, it was too late. But in late July, a new option appeared on the transom: three bedrooms with a courtyard in the tony Brandt Point neighborhood. It ticked all their boxes. The family signed a lease. A few days later, however, they learned that the rental was unsuccessful because the current tenants had decided to extend their stay on the island.

They were back to square one.

“We felt completely abandoned,” said one of the family members, who asked to remain anonymous. By this time in the summer, with rental inventory scarce, they began turning to hotels, but the cost of individual rooms didn’t make sense. Plus, they all wanted to be together under one roof. But they made a surprising discovery: some of the properties they were looking at, like Greydon House, the Wauwinet, And the white elephantindependent rental residences suitable for families.

And they came with other benefits. For one thing, they didn’t have to pay the 11.7 percent rental tax. Many of these designer homes also came with hotel amenities, such as housekeeping and concierge services, at a price similar to and, in some cases, even lower than many of the traditional rentals considered. The family ultimately decided to stay five nights at 52 Union, owned by Greydon House, a $2,500-a-night three-bedroom house in the city center with harbor views, followed by a weekend at the Serena & three bedrooms at Wauwinet. Anchorage house decorated with lilies.

“We’re getting to the point where people are starting to book quite early. Everyone wants to take advantage of the peak weeks in July and August, and we don’t have a lot of availability. I always urge people to rent at least by March,” says Bobby Sabelhaus, an agent with Great Point Properties in Nantucket. “Nantucket has never been more popular.” The rapporteur has been visiting the island since the 1980s and currently lives there all year round. At Great Point Properties, one of Nantucket’s largest real estate companies, rental activity increased about 1.3% between 2023 and 2024, with rent averaging about $13,000 per week. (The average lease length was 12 days.)

Another factor in Nantucket’s cutthroat rental market is community division over short-term leases, which basically boils down to the tension between overcrowding and traffic and being a hotel town that relies on tourism. The issue of short-term rentals continues to be debated in municipal assemblies and in the courts.

Earlier this year, the Copley Group, one of the largest operators of short-term rentals on Nantucket, put nearly $40 million of its real estate portfolio on the market due to the ban on companies holding short-term rentals. Aside from regulations, which, if passed and enforced, could certainly further squeeze Nantucket’s already ultra-competitive rental market, hotel companies, with their full fleet of amenities and services, could push local owners to increase their offers.

Nantucket, which is nicknamed the place where billionaires go to escape millionaires, is probably one of the only places in the world where even if you spend $200,000 a month renting a $20 million house, you will be still asked to start the dishwasher. , remove the sheets, start a load of towels and sort the recycling before the cleaning crew arrives. (Failure to comply may result in a significant loss of your security deposit, which is typically 10% of the total rental amount.)

“We don’t get a lot of pushback on this,” Sabelhaus says. “People will follow instructions whether it’s a $5,000 rental or a $50,000 rental.”

Yet hotel brands are arriving to fill these service gaps, among other parts of Nantucket’s often inflexible rental market. Greydon House, which has four independent guest houses in its portfolio ranging from a bungalow ($2,500 per night) to a five-bedroom house in Madaket with an in-ground pool ($3,000 per night), has the flexibility to ‘offer a minimum stay of three nights. stay.

“Allowing our guests to come for less than seven days has contributed to the popularity and demand for our homes,” says Evan Leventhal, chief revenue officer of Greydon Hotel Group. (During peak season, Greydon’s House’s occupancy rate is 80 to 85 percent.) The hotel group’s foray into the home rental market began in 2018 when Greydon House converted a 1-bedroom apartment 600 square feet, now called a Bungalow, into a three-bedroom, duplex apartment with three bathrooms. “The Bungalow was in such demand that we decided to buy our second home – 52 Union – and make it a more upscale version of the Bungalow. Our goal is to ensure our homes remain walkable to the city while maintaining the quality and services of a high-end boutique hotel,” says Leventhal.

For Greydon House, that means offering exclusive guest experiences, like booking sailing trips on the Blue Peter, a 65-foot teak sailboat from the 1930s, Maria Mitchell/Loines Observatory tours, concierges who will book treatments and massages through Lavender. Farms Wellness and private access to the Harvest Garden, an organic farm and event space. (Great Point Properties refers tenants to third-party concierges such as Help Me Rhonda, but they do not book these services directly.)

Many of these hoteliers leverage the high-end, five-star service that this younger generation of affluent travelers expect at this price point.

“The idea of ​​renting a house seems great until you arrive and realize that all the housework and cooking you have to do at home is following you on vacation,” says Jason Brown, CEO of Blue Flag Capital, which recently opened. the hotel by the sea in Nantucket. “From our pre-arrival concierge to help you with all your activities and reservations to on-site catering and housekeeping, when you stay in Beachside’s Family Suites or Faraway’s Federal Suite, you get the best of both worlds. »

These new hotel brand residences are designed for families. The Manhattan family says they had to give up at least three rentals because they weren’t suitable for young children, in one case because of a steep staircase and in the others because of proximity to busy roads.

At Beachside, located just a short walk from downtown, you’ll find family suites, starting at $1,299 per night, which can be configured for two to five bedrooms. They also have a kids’ club, a guest-only pool, and several on-site dining options. The Federal Suite ($3,500 per night), also in a prime location near town, has a kitchen, two patios, and three bedrooms.

While the Wauwinet Hotel is adults-only, the self-catering cottages, ranging from one to three bedrooms, accept children. At the island’s only Relais & Châteaux property, guests staying in Wauwinet cottages have access to BMW test drives, tennis courts, an Atlantic harbor and beach, cooking and mixology and guided tours to local destinations. Occupancy from May to September averages above 90 percent for cabins, where nightly rates range from $3,900 to $7,500 during peak season.

While that easily totals $50,000 for a week on Nantucket, a comparable rental with all of these amenities would cost as much if not more due to the additional 11.7% rental tax and 10% security deposit. And it is extremely rare to find a rental house a stone’s throw from two beaches with a tennis court and which offers twice-daily cleaning as part of the rental price.

Another Nantucket hotel company, which asked not to be identified due to unresolved issues with short-term rentals, puts its pitch this way: “Don’t sort trash or start laundry. » This luxury group advertises “hassle-free stays” made possible by an on-site concierge team to handle every detail. “Need groceries?” They will have them. An evening? They will reserve it. Want a massage? A yoga teacher? A private chef? Just ask.