Why You Should Follow Industry Vacation Rental Data (and Where to Find It)
How to Follow Along with STR Industry Data
When you own a vacation rental, being informed is half the battle, and educating yourself about short-term rental data and metrics can help you to operate a successful business. There are a myriad of ways to stay informed about industry trends and data without doing all of the number crunching yourself. If you’re not already following along with short-term rental industry data and statistics, now is the time to start.
Today, we’ll cover a few reasons why you should follow along with vacation rental industry data and give you some tips on where to find it.
Why Following STR Industry Data is Essential
Stay Informed of Current Trends in the Industry
Perhaps the most important reason to follow along with STR industry data is to stay informed of current trends and patterns in the industry. Industry data reports often come along with handy long-form written analyses of what’s being measured, making it simple for even economics novices to understand how the winds are blowing. They also include information about the macro factors that affect the industry, such as inflation, unemployment, and other economic metrics, so you can stay informed without needing to do in-depth research yourself.
When you regularly check for updates and market reports from industry data sources (which we’ll go over in more detail later on in this article), you are ahead of the game when it comes to anticipating how things will change in the industry in the future. Not only will you be able to anticipate upcoming market trends, you’ll also be able to protect yourself against market downturns by arming yourself with information far in advance.
Easily Compare Your Performance With Industry Data
Checking monthly and yearly reports of your own short-term rental data (such as your ADR, RevPAR, and occupancy rates) is something that should already be at the top of your mind as a short-term rental owner. Comparing your numbers year over year can help you to see where you are succeeding as an owner and where you need to improve.
Plus, being informed about your own data has another bonus: when you follow along with industry data, you’ll have a basis for comparison to see how you’re performing, not just your own data to rely on. And by tracking regional trends and metrics through monthly and yearly market reports on data aggregators, it’s quite easy to see how you stack up against those in your area as well as nationally.
Make Informed Decisions Based on Vacation Rental Market Data
If you’re not already utilizing the rich analysis of data contained in monthly market reports to make informed decisions for your vacation rental, this is your opportunity to start. For instance, if you have an idea of when demand is highest in your region due to studying monthly reports and your own data, you may not want to schedule repairs or renovations for that period of time. Similarly, having this knowledge at-hand can help you to iron out your pricing strategy for the busy times of the year–when you know when demand is at its peak, you can attain a higher average daily rate than you would otherwise.
All in all, following along with industry data and trends can help you to optimize your own strategy and obtain higher occupancy rates and overall higher revenue.
Where to Find Vacation Rental Industry Data Analysis
Key Data
If you already have a bit of knowledge when it comes to data analysis and KPIs that are important to the vacation rental industry, the Key Data blog is a great place to find more information about industry trends and data. Not only do they publish high-quality analyses of short-term rental market data, but their blog also provides information about becoming a better rental owner, all backed up with data from their Dashboard.
Because KeyData operates as a data aggregator for short-term rental owners and property managers, they have access to high-quality data that no one else in the industry has. This means that their monthly market reports and data analysis are informed by real numbers and metrics from the property owners and managers they work with. You can trust their insights and utilize them to compare your performance and make informed decisions for your short-term rental business.
AirDNA
AirDNA has long been the leader in the short-term rental market data space, and for good reason–they utilize data from over 10 million properties to craft market insights and monthly reports that are incredibly valuable for short-term rental owners.
The information on their blog is the industry standard for market data, and is incredibly useful to vacation rental owners who are looking to be better informed about industry trends and patterns. Their monthly market reports even contain details about larger economic factors, such as unemployment and inflation, that are inextricably linked with how the short-term rental industry is faring. Even if you’re thinking about dipping your toes into the European vacation rental market, they have monthly reports in this space as well.
Want to Be Better Informed? Inside LocalVR’s Data-Driven Property Management
With more competition than ever before and occupancy rates dropping over the last 2 years, now is the time to dive deeper into vacation rental market data to gain insight into how to make your business more competitive. For those who aren’t sure if they want to crunch all the numbers themselves–that’s where LocalVR’s vacation rental property management comes in. Our strategies and processes are driven by data and we utilize it at every turn to make informed decisions that benefit our owners. For more information about LocalVR’s property management services, check out our homepage.
Looking for more short-term rental tips? Check out more selections from our blog, such as our breakdown of ADR vs RevPAR or our guide to using targeting for marketing your vacation rental.