Demand for short-term rentals surged by 54 percent between 20, making Joshua Tree one of the top two fastest-growing markets in California and one of the top 25 fastest-growing markets in the United States, according to data from AirDNA, a company that collects and analyzes data from Airbnb and Vrbo. The pandemic has supersized that pattern, fueling a sort of gold rush through which investors from Los Angeles, New York, China and elsewhere are rushing in, not just to renovate properties, but to buy land to build homes explicitly for Airbnb and Vrbo.

But as the pandemic has boosted Joshua Tree’s allure for travelers, transplants and investors, it has magnified old conflicts and created new conundrums.ĭesert lovers have long been renovating cabins and setting up glamping facilities for visitors. Tensions over visitors, some of whom will, inevitably, want to claim a piece of the desert themselves, has been a part of the area’s story for years. This is infuriating, he said, because he cannot drive anywhere in the region without seeing new luxury modernist rentals, whose owners have no trouble obtaining permits. In order to get a permit - which would satisfy newly enforced rules in San Bernardino County that prohibit renting out most glamping setups on Airbnb, Hipcamp and Vrbo - he’d have to disassemble the club and build a traditional house. Giuliano designed everything, including his walk-the-plank setup, which encourages his guests to wobble two feet above actual sharks’ teeth to facilitate their imaginations.Īround three months ago, amid tensions with neighbors and a shift in how the Joshua Tree area in southeastern California regulates short-term rentals and glamping facilities, the 47-year-old Italian artist pulled his last listing off an online booking platform. The off-the-grid glamping site has appeared in the Italian version of Rolling Stone, on lists of epic luxury camping experiences and in films.

has been Alessandro Giuliano’s primary source of inspiration, social interaction and income.

For the last six years, the 10-acre Desert Yacht Club - a 1946 Chris Craft cruiser anchored on a rocky hilltop amid retro trailers near Joshua Tree, Calif.

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