Boston 2026 World Stamp Show

And the blighting of local housing by Airbnb has what connection with US border procedures? You've had your red hat on too tight.

The AirBnB issue has nothing to do with people visiting being detained.

Investors are buying up properties in towns that attract tourists to rent them out to tourists. As a consequence, the locals that work there cannot afford the houses (mostly appartments). On top of this, the speculators buy mostly the cheaper properties and properties that, otherwise, would have been rented out at the lower end of the market.

Essentially, local people are being chased out of their towns by the modern equivalent of the invading Mongol Hordes that devastate those towns.

The Spanish government is cracking down on the speculators that buy these dwellings, making it difficult or impossible to offer them on AirBnB. No tourists are detained. The tourists can stay at hotels and hostels, as before.

And this problem is not limited to Spain.

It is all about tourists, be they being blocked by Spain or the USA. Yes the four Germans were tourists. All the hand-ringing in the European press has yet to explain why said visitors were detained. If all paperwork and activities are in order, the would be no detention. At least they were allow in once. Here Spain wants to say go away to tens or hundreds of thousands because they planned to use a short term rental service. Where has the USA told tourists not to come because we don't want your to occupy short term rentals.

No red hats here (actually have never been registered with any political party ever--to many generations of the family learned the hard way about being open with one's political allegiance before arriving here), but a belief in rule following when a tourist or guest and for the right for owners of property to short or long term rent them out or heaven forbid, live in them themselves while allowing them to be vacant between visits. Yes I travel out of this country.




Funny, that is always the argument. But show me where the short term rental market collapsed because there were no locals available to work and provide services to the visiting short term renters. The investors are not selling the properties in question, they are buying properties that the locals are choosing to sell. Likewise if the endeavor was not profitable for the short term rental owners, they would do something else with the property. Investors are people too, trying to make their own living, with property rather than a restaurant or as a coffee server or football player.

Visitors to Boston 2026 World Stamp Show could well save money with short term rental as compared to the hotel expenses. Food? You can still eat out in either accommodation, but of course you are free to prepare your own food at a much less expensive cost at your short term rental.

Tourism here and abroad drives economies, economies which would otherwise wither and die without the visitors' money.

Edit:

Yes I am familiar with the short term rental issues which arise. I laugh when it is said short term rental hurt the poor locals trying to stay in an area.

Stinson Beach, California, just 8 crowfly miles, but three times that distance by car, complained enough to the county (Marin) supervisors to get Short term rentals very very limited. Here is an overview of the small town:


Of course these poor folks complained about being displaced. When $3,000,000.00 dollar homes are owned by poor people, how much money do investors need to run short term rentals? The demand for tourists in the area is due to the fact than within a 15 mile radius are dozens of local, county, state and national parks and recreation areas. Renowned coastal beauty, restaurants and wineries.

Sorry when more folks want to live/visit an area and that exceeds carrying capacity, costs rise to keep the number of folks in check.

Here the county stepped up and purchased property which was converted to long term low income senior housing. What is funny is the unraiseable rents some unchanged for 25 years is not covering the basic costs of upkeep. One of the original seniors to the project is just about 90 years old.

The county purchased another property, on the market for years, nearby and it is now back up for sale. After much publicity and fanfare about doing so, the county found out that the costs involved, especially the septic system were so costly to bring up to current code, that it was impossible to do so and have the property be rented as low-income housing. Nor is it now allowed to be purchased by an investor for short term rental due to the restrictions. Neither is it cost effective to buy and fix up for long term rental due to rent control. Not only is the county out of the money until it sells again it is out of the property tax revenue until it sells. At least the old owner paid the taxes. The county does not tax itself nor does the government seem to be able to get out of its own way.

I have a daughter who lives in Boston and works at a hotel. If she's still there next year, maybe I'll consider going to the show.

The main problem with lodging in the Boston area is that being a sanctuary city a huge percentage of the rooms are spoken for by the Commonwealth to house newcomers. This has been a MAJOR problem for events in Boston and at Gillette Stadium to name a couple. When the Army-Navy game was in town it made the national news because thousands of visitors had nowhere to stay.

This fiscal year 2025 Gov Healey spent and will spend 700 million dollars on 100 hotels for newcomers.

"A great example of how we rocket towards a locked topic when otherwise intelligent and mature forum members disregard that referring to POTUS as "Orangehead" may be seen as disrespectful to other members . . . It is still stunning to see adults turn into 15 year old mean girls . . . Can we control ourselves enough to at least keep the topic open?"

Sure, but "Orangehead" is pretty funny for a guy who is literally orange, don't you think? I've heard him called worse. As for "disrespect," it's a very old tradition in this country to question and even disrespect political leaders. As long as its not unfairly personal, it's fine. Welcome to a robust democratic society.

What this actually is is a great example of a useful conversation about how current political realities may affect attendance by stamp dealers and collectors whose decennial stamp show is affected by such factors. It could be the #1 most important topic today about this particular show. I say that based on my attendance at two or three previous of the major decennial stamp shows. They had no similar worry about travel rules, so this is what sets this show apart from the others. But we shouldn't be talking about this? You can't be serious.

It certainly does not seem to be the best time to invite overseas guests to this country. And it may affect American travelers, as well. The stamp show's very own announcement trying to calm people's anxiety about traveling to Boston was pretty good evidence that the issue exists. Who does that if there is not a serious concern about attendance?

Those going to, and coming from, the stamp show may experience being searched, being questioned, being taken aside for more of the same (like a suspected drug dealer), even denied admission to the U.S. as some other innocent travelers have been. And who cares if that isn't common? That it happens at all, and regularly, is bad enough. It's all in the news. Many will travel to Boston under this pall of anxiety. If you aren't aware of these anxieties, welcome to America in the Trump Era. I'd say right now it's the single most important topic about the Boston 2026 stamp show. As much as I'd like to daydream only about stamps and stamp exhibits, this show has this very big issue for many people that needs discussing, not ignoring.

Also, it's probably not a good idea to insult those you disagree with. "Otherwise intelligent" -- by which you mean they're not intelligent on this issue -- or "15 year old mean girls" doesn't win you any points with me. I'm a lot older than "15" and only my children can call me "mean". If you have no objection to body and bag searches and aggressive harassment and detention of some foreign visitors, welcome to America today where you can get all you want. It's not the best advertisement for tourism, is it?

I want to go to this show but I am reluctant to be harassed and inspected or unnecessarily delayed, myself, and I'm as American as could be. The new tariffs are obviously anti-foreign, the president's remarks about our neighbors are anti-foreign, our immigration and travel policies are ant-foreign . . .so why wouldn't foreigners wonder if they should come here? I would. And why woiuldn't Americans also be reluctant to travel. ICE agents are handcuffing children. So, yeah, I haven't decided if I'll go yet. I guess we'll see.

As rogdcam explained above, that is why short term rentals have to be used for the Boston Show. At this point if the USA told tourists they could not stay in short term rentals, then folks, tourists have no where to stay AND those who find hotel accommodations will pay handsomely for the privilege. It is ironic that there in Boston (and in many other cities) short term accommodations were converted to long term housing great enriching the hotel and motel owners.

Of course when Boston was selected years ago, transient housing was not an issue nor anywhere as limited as it is now. Allowing dealers to split show attendance reflects the costly understanding for tourists or short term business arrivals in Boston.

In California where by law you have many, many rights if you live and rent a location for 31 days or more. Some short term renters gamed the system by paying for 29 or the full 30 day maximum and then refusing to leave for another day or two. They then claimed their renters rights for free rent evicted by the courts until months later. Of course, the state exempted themselves from the draconian rental laws so the state paid new comers being housed could be removed from the housing without the state needing to follow their own rules. The really fun rent rule is after 31 days, the was a great limit one how much rent can be raised on the tenant, not more than 5%. Of course those new comers were paying zero and a 5% increase would remain at zero. They could have lived in the hotel for life without a rent increase, or paying any rent.

An option I am reviewing (and maybe a Mass. resident can chime in here) is to stay on Cape Cod and take a commuter train into Boston. Cape Cod has plenty of hotel rooms and rentals as long as you make plans early due to the Memorial day holiday weekend. The train station looks to be a short walk from the convention center.

Some numbers to ponder.
There are roughly 4.5 million people in the Boston area.
There are roughly 5000 families being housed in emergency shelters (including overflow sites and United Way shelters) across all of Massachusetts, with roughly 1,300 in Boston.
Per a story on local Fox news on May 19, 2025, Massachusetts plans to close all emergency state shelters in hotels this summer.
Per Costar's 2023 Boston hospitality market report, there were roughly 63,000 hotel rooms in the Boston area at that time.
Per The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau (now MeetBoston) 2024 hotel occupancy in Greater Boston was approx. 77% with the last 3 months of 2024 averaging 74.4%.

With a moderate amount of advance planning I don't think finding a hotel room will be a problem.

You can book rooms now through the booking agent linked in the show website. I got mine weeks ago.

In a pinch perhaps Boston area stampers could take in visitors to the show OR they could house newcomers thus freeing up hotel space. Just a thought.

Interesting read.

I haven't used the MBTA in awhile but I don't think there is a regular line out to the Cape. They have a seasonal service called the Cape Flyer on weekends in the summer. Not sure if that will be running then.

But definitely staying out of the city near a commuter rail station and coming in that way would be an option. You'd want to stay on the south shore as those lines run to South Station which is about 3/4ths of a mile walk from the Convention Center. Trains on the north side terminate at North Station which is a little more complicated.

FWIW: The Cape is a nice place to visit, but not convenient to commute to or from. It's approximately 60 miles south of Boston an hour + commute each way, more by car. There are some brand hotels in the perimeter communities around Boston, but rates are usually $100+/night. After rush hours (7a-9:30a & 4:30p-7p) traffic in & out of Boston (to South Boston) is still moderate to heavy (rush is EXTREME). Public transportation, in town & from surrounding communities is sustainable, especially the subways. Most metro communities have bus connections to subway service. I would recommend a Google search to MBTA, subway, bus by community. I myself have been commuting by MBTA to West End, City Hall area for years & have made all my appointments. (On Monday I bus at 9:30a with Orange line connection to Haymarket for an 11:a appointment, usually arriving by 10:30a. avoids parking expense). Close accommodations, public transportation are best options. Driving into Boston & parking is challenging. Uber can be expensive, depending on point of origin & destination & time of day. There are fare packages for reasonable $$ for MBTA public transport. Local show committee should be discussing & putting out basic info now. I'm a confirmed public transport guy. haven't brought a car into Boston since Working @ South Station & only because parking was provided by employer. (They have Discounts for senior riders)