Coachella: Home rentals near music festival are averaging $650 a night

If you’re thinking of renting a house when you attend the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival next month, be prepared to pay a hefty rate.

Vacation properties in the area around the festival are renting for an average of $650 a night, 260% more than the average year-round rate in the area, according to data from the rental site Homeaway.com.

As for hotels, most every hotel room within 15 miles of the Coachella Valley is already booked for the two weekends of the festival, with rates as high as $450 a night, according to several online booking sites.

[Updated 4 p.m. PDT March 13: A study by the travel website TripAdvisor.com found no rooms available within 10 miles of the festival for the first weekend. On the second weekend of the festival, TripAdvisor found only 3% of hotel rooms within 10 miles available, with an average nightly rate of about $200. Availability increases slightly for hotels 10 to 30 miles away from the festival on both weekends, with rates ranging from about $214 to $374 per night.]

With the first weekend of the festival less than a month away, Homeaway.com said it has already booked about 70% of its listings of 4,467 vacation homes in the communities close to the festival.

The demand for vacation rentals is up 12% over the same period last year, with demand especially high in Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Cathedral City, while the supply of rental properties has remained flat.

OutKast, the Atlanta hip-hop duo, is headlining the festival, which takes place April 11-13 and April 18-20 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

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