Lil Deb L Do It

FYI - after the fire - reopened and ready

Just over the past 3 years I've seen a significant drop in vacation rental bookings, necessary workforce and small business owners "giving up" and longtime Keys locals finally exiting the Keys. Whether in search of legitimate Healthcare (it's a "suggestion" here in the Keys), seeking available &/or more importantly "affordable" housing or simply just having the ability to balance work and home life without destroying our brains and bodies they're leaving for good.
I have several of my vacation rental homeowners asking if it is typical to be this slow this time of year and as I tell them...... no! Typically we have our summer seasonals that come down from the mainland and stay 3 months. A little over 2 years ago the campground rates increased their prices and now those summer seasonals (June -Aug) just do not come down as much as they used to. That is a huge loss in revenue, especially for restaurants and the vrbo/airbnb rentals when their family members visit. So instead of having the end of August through October as our typical off-season we're now looking at 5/6 months of off-season. That's unsustainable for anyone who lives remotely paycheck to paycheck. It is a horrible thing to see but I have had so many conversations especially here recently with locals in our communities, people I thought would never leave, finally giving up. 🥺🙁.