As a revenue or property manager, how do you ensure your results and metrics improve? The critical first step is to fully understand your own performance and to fully comprehend how that relates to your market. This can be achieved through internal reservations data and market data, which allow you to project and set targets, track progress and identify key areas to make adjustments. First we take you through each type of vacation rental data and its relevance, then we look at applications and resources, including our very own Transparent tools.
Internal reservations data
Your own internal reservations data should be one of the very first subjects of analysis, as your actual bookings are in many ways the data that will be most telling. You have the highest level of visibility into every aspect of each individual booking that has already occurred; a huge degree of relevance and ease of access.
Market data
However, your own reservation data is still only a baseline as there is still so much more to consider. As an example, you could manage 100 units out of 2000 in an entire market. This would still mean that your booking data presents only a 5% sample of market data. What’s more – that’s with no consideration of forward-looking data (what’s the advertised price and average occupancy for next Saturday?).
For this reason it is crucial to look for a bigger sample size and analyse forward looking data so that you can capture larger market trends, ensure you are aware of changes in supply and demand and can make proactive adjustments capitalise on the market, which is not likely to be static season after season.
Using vacation rental data: internal reservations data & market data
When it comes to your own data, you may have a good bank of data from your property management system (PMS) or channel manager (CM) ready to go. Or you may work more manually, which is also fine, just as long as you have an effective and efficient method of analysis and reporting. If not, talk to your account manager for your PMS or CM, or investigate how other tools can take your reporting and analysis to the next level.
In terms of market data to consider, this can be as basic as looking at the various channels or OTAs that are present in your market along with specific competitors’ sites.
There are also free tools with high level data to get you started. And, once you’re ready you’ll make it to investing in comprehensive market data for specific and granular insights and reporting to optimize your operation.
Once you have some external data to analyze, it makes sense to use your reservation data as a base and then test out different strategies to see if your current strategy or a new one based on market insights performs better.
Now, with our PRO and BI tools, you can easily chart your portfolio and performance against the content of your market, as well as pull reports on pacing, occupancy, ADR and so on. This reporting will also serve to inform prospecting and existing clients.
Why vacation rental data?
Data gives you visibility over everything from your rates for 2 bed apartments in a certain zipcode last June and this June compared with the market, to the level of demand day by day over the next year. Beyond rate shopping around competitors, you can even visualise unmanaged stock or monitor the average review score for a set of properties and the common key words in their reviews.
This kind of visibility positions you effectively pinpoint the optimal strategy for maximising ADR and occupancy, and also prospect and grow effectively.
And then there’s the reporting. Without testing different strategies and comparing sources of information, you won’t be able to learn or improve your performance.
As there are so many different variables to consider with short-term rental revenue management as compared to hotels, it makes sense to trial different strategies to see what performs best for your inventory and market. Vacation rental data based results can guide you most accurately.
Access to powerful filters in terms of your property (e.g. number of bedrooms, property type, amenities) and market (e.g. zipcode, PM/owner, OTA) can elevate your strategy by ensuring that it is highly specific across different segments of your portfolio.
Take the next step with vacation rental data
Ultimately data is the linchpin of growth in vacation rentals, and whatever level you’re at, there’s a manageable level of analysis and investment. Whether it’s getting to grips with your own data, or gearing up to a professional tool to maximise your revenue, why not explore how much vacation rental data can help you today?