Kelsey Wood and fiance, Josh Knapp, stood to earn thousands of dollars from renting out their vacation rental, Mulberry Bungalow, during Super Bowl weekend in February in Phoenix, Arizona.
Instead, the couple donated two nights at the vacation rental to a terminal cancer patient whose dream was to see the final game of the season.
“One thing my parents always told me, and they still do, is, if you give what you can, you’ll always have enough,” Kelsey said.
She has held that motto close to her heart throughout her life, choosing a career in nursing to help sick patients.
Starting a vacation rental business
Three years ago, she and Josh purchased their first vacation rental in Phoenix.
Josh’s work as a medical device salesman slowed down during the pandemic so he started researching ways to earn extra money.
He decided to invest in a short-term rental. The first property he and Kelsey bought included a three-bedroom house and guesthouse. They rented out the guesthouse while they lived in and renovated the main house. They later bought another three-bedroom house with a guesthouse. All four properties appear on the website for their business, Stay J & K.
“We both really like working with people,” Kelsey said. “I work with a lot of sick people who are suffering. I love my work, but it is fun that we get to deal and work with people who are really happy and excited to be going on vacation and traveling.”
To help improve their business, Kelsey and Josh began following vacation rental podcasts and keeping up with news about short-term rental regulations around the country.
Then, some concerning legislation surfaced at the Arizona Legislature in 2022. Some of the proposed laws included short-term rental caps and taxing short-term rentals at the commercial property rate.
“We were thinking, what do we do about this? Should we start a group to advocate for ourselves?” Kelsey recounted.
Speaking up about the value of short-term rentals
Josh and Kelsey opted to attend the public hearings at the Capitol to speak out against the legislation.
Kelsey’s message to lawmakers focused on what vacation rentals bring to the community and families in general.
“I totally respect and want to make things better for neighbors,” she said. “I really value having rules in place and getting rid of the bad apples, but I also encourage people to remember times when you go on vacations with your family or your loved ones and think about if you enjoy using short-term rentals and the joy that they bring to you.”
For example, Kelsey loves traveling with her family and nieces, whom she doesn’t get to spend much time with because they live in another state. “It’s so fun when we get to be at a property with them and color at the table while they’re eating breakfast and just spend time with them,” she added. “We also have family members with severe food allergies. So it makes it challenging to always go to restaurants. It’s helpful to stay at a short-term rental where we can cook our own meals.”
Joining Arizonans for Responsible Tourism
The couple later heard that a short-term rental alliance called Arizonans for Responsible Tourism (AZRT) already existed, and they immediately decided to get involved.
Coincidentally, AZRT was looking for members to join their board of directors. Kelsey threw her name into the hat and was elected as one of the at-large board members.
“It was my first board position and first leadership role,” she said. “It’s been a really good learning experience.”
In her activities on the board, Kelsey learned more about local government, how laws are made, and tips that helped her improve her vacation rental business.
For instance, she learned to proactively reach out to her neighbors to ask them to come to her first if they have a problem related to one of her and Josh’s short-term rentals. It’s a simple step that Kelsey simply hadn’t thought of before hearing the idea from seasoned hosts in AZRT.
“It’s helped give us a bigger picture of how to be a better host and how to educate guests on being better guests,” she said.
Being a good guest means properly disposing of trash, monitoring noise levels, not parking in front of neighbors’ homes, and in general, thinking of others.
Resources for Hosts in Arizona
“Leadership has helped us see how important it is to really make sure we’re doing all the things right and that we’re setting a good example,” she said.
Get involved: Find your local alliance
Using vacation rentals to give to others
She and Josh were delighted with the success of their vacation rental business. But they wanted to find a way to use their properties to give to others.
Kelsey heard about the Dream Foundation on the Thanks for Visiting podcast.
The Dream Foundation is the only national dream-granting organization for adults with terminal illness who have 12 months or less to live.
“When I heard about the Dream Foundation, I was super excited, because I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is definitely something we want to do,” Kelsey said.
She and Josh joined the Dream Foundation’s Vacation Rental Network, a group of vacation rental operators who are willing to donate or discount stays for Dream recipients.
“We put our houses on and it was just like out of sight, out of mind,” she said.
During the buildup to the Super Bowl in February in Phoenix, Josh and Kelsey were interviewed for several media reports on short-term rental operators preparing to host the influx of 68,000 spectators who would need lodging and were prepared to pay top dollar.
Around the same time, Josh and Kelsey got an email from Rebecca Steiger of the Dream Foundation. Rebecca asked if they would donate some nights to Kellirae, a 21-year-old woman with metastatic melanoma in San Bernardino, California, whose dream was to see the Super Bowl.
“I read the email in my car in the parking lot about to go into a store,” Kelsey recounted, “and I just started crying. I just knew right away it was so perfect. So, then, I called my fiance and asked, ‘Can we, please, do this? So when he said, yes, I was relieved.”
They hosted Kellirae, her mom, and her cheer coach at their vacation rental, Mulberry Bungalow, from Feb. 11-13.
The rewards of giving
Kellirae, who is deaf, not only saw the Super Bowl football game; the Dream Foundation also arranged for her to meet Super Bowl deaf performers Justin Miles, Colin Denny, and Troy Kotsur.
And she attended a special meet and greet with the Eagle Cheerleaders. One of the cheerleaders, Kelsey Rate, even communicated with her in American Sign Language.
“The kindness of individuals across the country, like Kelsey and Josh, allow us to fulfill so many more final Dreams than we otherwise could,” the Dream Foundation wrote on their Facebook page.
Kellirae discussed the experience through sign language in a follow-up interview with the Dream Foundation after the Super Bowl trip.
“I have no words. I don’t even know how to explain it,” Kellirae said. “I just want to say to everyone, thank you for making this happen and supporting me no matter what I’ve been through, and I really appreciate all of you and making my dream come true.”
Josh and Kelsey remain part of the Dream Foundation’s Vacation Rental Network and have inspired others in AZRT to join as well.
“That’s kind of been our motto this year,” Kelsey said, “We don’t know what’s in store with the market. But if we give it all we can, we’ll always have enough, and we’ll figure it out.”
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