Residents of a Cape Cod town say they are concerned they could be priced out of their sleepy neighborhood as billionaires move into the seaside enclave.
Locals in Provincetown, an iconic seasonal destination on the northern top of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, say hotels are getting gobbled up by large corporations and the cost of living has skyrocketed.
Known for its old-school character and family-owned, charming inns, locals say they fear the quaint town could lose its essence to greedy billionaires.
The number of inns have dropped significantly over the last few years, dwindling from over 100 inns in 2010 to 82 this year.
Short term rentals, such as Airbnbs and Vrbos, have declined even more sharply, from 1,200 in 2019 to just 855 this year.
As a result, frequent visitors have noticed higher lodging prices and and inns with no vacancies.
‘It doesn’t feel like the town has changed. It’s still a fishing town, a Portuguese town, but there’s a big tension on keeping its character,’ Judd Schechtman, a longtime visitor to the town, told the Boston Globe.
‘Places are getting more expensive, and we always stay at the Harbor Hotel because it’s the cheapest place in town at $300 a night.’
The average price of a hotel room in the town has risen to $400 to $500 a night, and some luxury hotels even surpass $800 a night during the summer and during the town’s seasonal events and celebrations.
Provincetown has long-been a fairly chiq destination, but it is becoming more expensive for visitors
The average price of a hotel room in Provincetown has risen to $400 to $500 a night as the supply of hotel rooms and short-term rentals has dropped significantly over the past few years
Andrew Gianopoulos, the general manager of one of those luxury hotels, said million-dollar oceanfront properties are owned by wealthy families that only occupy the houses one week out of the year.
He told the Boston Globe he was worried that the town is becoming a playground only for billionaires that can afford it. ‘There is worry of a Nantucket-ization of P-town,’ he said, referring to Provincetown’s nickname among locals.
A family-owned hospitality group called Linchris has been buying up hotels in the town since 2000. Today, the company owns 423 hotel rooms across six properties, which is about 31 percent of the total 1,380 hotel rooms in the town.
Linchris began its real estate portfolio with the purchase of Surfside Hotel and Suites in 2000 for an undisclosed sum. In January 2024, the company purchased the Provincetown Inn for $24 million. A week later, it purchased the Foxberry Inn for $3 million to use as employee housing.
The hospitality group’s decision to use the Foxberry Inn as employee housing is reflective of a broader issue taking place in the town that has also contributed to the dwindling supply of hotel rooms and short-term rentals.
The rising cost of living in the town has made it prohibitively expensive for seasonal workers, and hotel managers have had to convert former inns into housing for them.
The town manager, Alex Morse, said he is prioritizing building affordable housing for seasonal workers and that 65 rental units are nearing completion. He also said another 40 condos, 30 of which will be below-market, are in the works.
‘One of the town’s major goals for a long time has been to build a bigger year-round community, which COVID helped accelerate, but one of the unintended consequences of that is that there’s less [hotel] supply,’ Morse told the Boston Globe.
During the summer and seasonal celebrations, luxury hotels in Provincetown charge upwards of $800 per night
The company that owns around 31% of all the hotel rooms in Provincetown purchased the Provincetown Inn (interior pictured) for $24 million in 2024
‘We saw a number of bed and breakfasts turn into single-family homes for people who relocated here full time.’
The growing consolidation of hotels and inns under a few large companies such as Linchris prompted residents to create a petition meant to stop conglomorates from monopolizing hotel stock.
In response, the town implemented bylaws limiting owners to no more than five hotels or two short-term rental properties.
Linchris President Bob Anderson said he was aware the new bylaws were in response to his company’s growing footprint, but he did not feel the need to challenge them because he doesn’t plan to further expand Linchris’s Provincetown portfolio.
Linchris operates and has a minority stake in more than 30 properties across 15 states.
‘We get the big bad corporate moniker and I don’t blame anybody for being defensive and being protective because that’s what’s helped keep Provincetown, Provincetown,’ Anderson said.
The bylaws do impact another large player in the area’s hotel industry, a family-run company called Meads Bay that owns three properties in the town: the Ellery, the Waterford and the Mercury, which in total offer 40 rooms.
Meads Bay founder Jessica Rosenburg said she would like to purchase two more hotels and bring her portfolio up to 100 rooms, but she will not be able to do so under the town’s new bylaws.
‘I understand capping ownership at properties to keep things homegrown. People don’t want to lose the charm of the town and have everything owned by a handful of entities,’ Rosenburg said. ‘But it does deter investment in the community.’
